m 


mi 


"':.M}!ilii' 


11 


llltllllllli!lllflllj|flllll!{||||lllll!lll!|{ll{|}|ill|li{|jlf! 
iiill{i!iilllili{illlliiillillliliil!ii!!lill!iil!lillllliilH 


/  O  ,/0,  i.3 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,   N.  J. 


Presented  by 


TVie  Wf^^lc^w  o-P  Gre.orpe.DvAc^'c^n,^^^  . 


BV  4501  . 

D59 

1906 

\ 

Dixon,  A. 

C. 

1854- 

-1925. 

The  young 

convert ' 

s 

probl 

em 

and  their  solution 

ofvi-^Jr 


Z^  ^^/jO:^ 


^^hrfn. 


10  1923 


THE 

Young  Convert  s  Problems 

AND  THEIR   SoLUTION 


BY 


v. 


A.    C.    DIXON,    D.  D. 
Author  of  "Evangelism  Old  and   New,"  etc. 


0 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 

150  nassau  street 

Boston  New  York  Chicago 


Copyright  1906,  by 
American  Tract  Society 


PREFACE 

The  object  of  this  little  book  is  to  help  young 
Christians,  and  it  seeks  to  do  so  by  a  biblical 
treatment  of  every  subject. 

It  begins  with  a  chapter  on  the  Holy  Spirit, 
because  the  young  Christian's  greatest  need  is 
the  enduement  of  the  Spirit  for  power  in  serv- 
ice. 

At  the  threshold  of  every  Christian  life  stands 
the  question,  Shall  I  join  a  church,  and,  if  so, 
what  church?  We  do  not  discuss  the  question 
as  to  what  church  one  should  join,  preferring 
to  leave  every  one  to  decide  that  for  oneself, 
but  we  do  insist  that  every  young  Christian 
should  join  some  church  in  which  Christ  is  hon- 
ored and  the  Scriptures  believed. 

The  third  chapter  gives  a  glimpse  of  the 
Bible  in  the  hope  that  every  young  Christian 
may  be  led  to  study  it  carefully,  taking  it  as 
the  authoritative  guide  of  life.  It  is  daily 
bread  for  the  soul,  and  to  neglect  it  is  to  starve. 

1 


ii  PREFACE 

Through  the  Bible  God  speaks  to  us,  and  in 
prayer  we  speak  to  God.  The  chapter  on  the 
Bible  comes  before  the  one  on  prayer,  because 
we  should  let  God  speak  to  us  before  we  speak 
to  Him,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  with  its 
"  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises "  is 
essential  to  effective  praying. 

The  spirit  of  prayer  with  this  knowledge  of 
the  Bible  will  prepare  one  to  meet  temptation, 
and  chapter  five  is  intended  to  furnish  both 
warning  and  encouragement;  warning  to  young 
Christians  to  be  on  their  guard  against  insidi- 
ous approaches  of  sin,  and  encouragement 
against  despair  to  those  who  have  been  "  over- 
taken in  a  fault." 

Every  young  Christian,  rich  or  poor,  needs 
to  remember  that  the  capacity  to  make  money 
is  a  sacred  trust,  and  that  the  possession  of 
money  carries  with  it  weighty  responsibility. 
The  purpose  of  chapter  six  is  to  promote  con- 
scientious, intelligent  and  scriptural  giving. 

The  question  of  amusements  is  one  of  the 
most  important  and  yet  difficult  matters  with 
which  young  Christians  have  to  deal,  and  a  mis- 
take here  often  means  the  wreck  of  usefulness. 
In  chapter  seven  we  give  principles  by  which  one 


PREFACE  iii 

may  be  guided,  and,  believing  that  they  are 
sound  and  practical,  we  commend  them  to  all 
who  would  be  useful  and  at  the  same  time  happy 
Christians. 

The  "  Ideal  Christian,"  whose  portrait  as 
drawn  by  the  Apostle  Paul  we  have  tried  to 
reproduce  in  the  closing  chapter,  will,  we  trust, 
inspire  every  young  Christian  who  reads  this 
book  to  "  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize 
of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

With  a  prayer  for  God's  blessing  upon  every 
reader,  we  commit  these  pages  to  Him  whose 
glory  we  seek  in  the  growth  and  usefulness  of 
His  children. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

PAGE 

Influence  not  Sufficient  —  The  Holy  Spirit  a  Per- 
son —  Christ  Worthy  to  Receive  Power  —  The 
Baptism  of  the  Spirit  —  The  Spirit  our  Atmos- 
phere—  The  Spirit  our  Sunlight  —  The  Spirit 
our  Power-House  —  The  Spirit  our  Reservoir  — 
God  with  Us  —  Relation  to  the  New  Birth  — 
The  Fountain  of  Life  —  Christ  must  be  Glorified.       i 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CHURCH. 
The  Church  Universal  and  the  Church  Local  — 
True  Estimate  —  Excuses  for  not  Joining  the 
Church  — "  Unworthy  Members  "— "  Too  Exclu- 
sive " — "  Heaven  without  it " — "  Loss  of  Personal 
Liberty  "— "  Too  Young  "— "  Too  Old  "— "  Too 
Unworthy " —  Reasons  for  Joining  the  Church 
—  Church  Needs  You — You  Need  the  Church  — 
Church  Founded  by  Christ  —  Increase  of  In- 
fluence —  Influence  of  Christian  Outside  the 
Church  Against  the  Church  —  Confession  of  Al- 
legiance —  Pillar  and  Ground  of  the  Truth.    .     ,        9 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BIBLE. 

PAGE 

Process  of  Building  —  A  Library  —  A  Picture  Gal- 
lery—  An  Observatory  —  An  Armory  —  Views 
of  Lincoln,  Scott,  and  Locke  —  Bishop  Fisher's 
Last  Words  —  Bible's  Testimony  to  Itself  —  Bib- 
lical Definition  —  Biblical  Use  —  The  Plumb  Line 
and  Yard  Stick— Biblical  Method  of  Study  — 
The  Unworked  Mine  —  Diogenes  and  Alexander 
— "Grasshopper"  Method  —  Book  by  Book  — 
Word  Study  —  Cato  and  Greek  —  The  "  Under- 
rower  "—  Luther's  Method  —  Biblical  Motive  — 
Assurance  —  A   Vision   of  Christ 19 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PRAYER. 

The  Message  of  Jesus  —  Petition  —  Inquiry  — 
Need  —  Thanksgiving  —  God's  Gifts  and  Acts  — 
Tennyson  and  Heber  —  In  His  Name  —  In  Faith 

—  In  Fellovi^ship  —  For  God's  Glory  —  The 
Prayer  Meeting  —  How  to  Make  it  a  Success  — 
Fresh  Testimonies  —  Earnest  Prayer  —  Unselfish 
Ministry — Brevity  in  Prayer  —  Scripture  Quo- 
tation  and    Application 36 

CHAPTER  V. 

TEMPTATION. 
Current   and   Eddies  —  Selfishness  —  Satan's   Lie  — 
Prudence  —  Cowardice  —  Diplomacy  —  Lessons 

—  Great    Blessings    as    Occasions    of.  Sin  —  God 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

does  not  Forsake  —  Better  be  Weak  on  God's 
Side  than  Strong  on  Satan's  —  Abraham  and 
Pharaoh  —  Two  Kinds  of  Hospitals  —  Perpetual 
Victory 23 

CHAPTER  VI. 

MONEY. 

Why  People  are  Rich  and  Poor  —  Stewards  of  Ca- 
pacity —  Honesty  and  Love  —  A  Life  Better  than 
a  Living — Doing  Good  —  Giving  a  Purifying 
Process  —  Motives  —  Nobility  and  Meanness  — 
The  Dying  Miser  —  Make  Money  Immortal  — 
How  to  Give  —  Gospel  Beyond  the  Law  —  A 
Tithe  and  More  —  How  Rather  than  How  Much 
—  Spiritual  Giving 63 

CHAPTER  Vn. 

AMUSEMENTS. 
Mould  Character  —  A  Test  —  Avoid  Association 
with  Evil  Institutions  —  The  Card  Table  —  The 
Dance  —  The  Theatre  —  A  Living  Death  —  Sol- 
omon's Experience  —  A  Danger  Signal  —  Inglo- 
rious Defeat  —  Napoleon  and  Duke  D'Enghien  — 
The   B-tter  Way 74 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN. 
Power  of   Imagination  —  Paul's   Portraiture  —  Ful- 
ness of  Knowledge  —  A  Worthy  Wialk  —  How  a 
Detective    Became    a    Christian  —  Fruitfulness  — 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Not  Imitations  —  Not  Big  Fruit  —  Only  a  This- 
tle—  Julian  Le  Grand's  Kind  Word  and  its  Fruit 
—  Growth  —  Power  to  Endure  —  Gratitude  —  De- 
liverance  83 


THE  YOUNG 
CONVERT'S   PROBLEMS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  HOLY   SPIRIT 

Jesus  said,  "  Tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on 
high"  (Luke  24:49).  What  was  that  pow- 
er? Certainly  not  an  increase  of  knowledge, 
numbers,  money,  social  position,  or  organiza- 
tion. These  are  mere  influences  and  important. 
They  should  all  be  used  for  Christ.  But  influ- 
ences are  not  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the 
church.  The  word  "  influence "  occurs  only 
once  in  the  Bible,  and  that  in  the  question  of 
Jehovah  to  the  patriarch  Job :  "  Canst  thou 
bind  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades  ? " 
(Job  38:31).  "The  sweet  influences  of  the 
Pleiades "  which  bring  the  Spring  with  its 
bloom  of  flowers  and  song  of  birds  are  to  be 

1 


g    yOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

welcomed  and  prized,  but  for  the  most  effective 
Christian  service  we  need  more  than  genial  in- 
fluences. The  need  of  every  young  Christian  is 
in  the  New  Testament  word  "  power "  which 
has  in  it  the  omnipotence  of  God. 

The  power  which  came  on  the  Day  of  Pente- 
cost was  God  Himself  in  the  person  of  the  Holy 
The  Holy  Spirit,     who     "  like     a     rushing 

Spirit  Personal  mighty  wind  filled  all  the  house 
where  they  were  sitting,"  and  as  "  tongues  of 
fire  sat  upon  each  of  them"  (Acts  2:2,3). 
Power  is  God  at  work.  He  uses  the  Word  as 
a  sword,  and  the  Christian  as  an  agent.  Power, 
however,  is  not  in  the  sword,  but  in  the  arm  that 
wields  it.  Nor  is  it  in  the  agent,  but  in  the 
Master  whose  servant  he  is.  God  delegates 
power  to  no  one.  Jesus  said,  "  Go  ye  and  dis- 
ciple all  nations,  and  lo,  I  am  with  you " 
(Matt.  28: 19,  20).  In  other  words,  "  I  will  go 
with  you  and  do  the  work  myself,  provided  you 
fulfil  the  conditions  I  impose.  You  are  to 
pray,  trust,  preach,  and  live  the  truth,  while 
you  depend  upon  me  for  power." 

The  redeemed  in  glory  sing,  "  Worthy  is  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power"  (Rev. 
5:12),   and   every   Christian,   however   weak   in 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  3 

himself,  has  no  right  to  give  weakness  in  his 
service  to  Christ,  for  power  is  within  the  reach 
of  all  who  believe.  At  Pentecost  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  "  Comforter,"  the  "  Paraclete,"  one 
who  comes  to  our  aid  when  we  call,  came  to 
stay,  and  He  has  been  with  the  church  ever 
since.  He  is  often  grieved,  and,  like  Jesus,  un- 
able to  do  mighty  works  because  of  our  unbelief, 
but  He  is  never  absent. 

The  baptism  of  the  Spirit  is  mentioned  only 
in  connection  with  Pentecost.  Jesus  said,  "  Ye 
shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  The  Baptism 
Spirit  not  many  days  hence "  ^^  the  Spirit 
(Acts  1:5).  And  John  said  of  Jesus,  "He 
shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  with 
fire  "  (Matt.  3:11).  The  baptism  at  Pentecost 
seems  to  have  been  once  for  all,  and  the  en- 
duement  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  service  is  our 
entering  upon  the  fulness  of  this  baptism.  The 
Holy  Spirit,  like  the  mighty  rushing  wind  of 
Pentecost,  is  to-day  the  atmosphere  of  the 
church  in  which  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
spiritual  being.  But  every  man  appropriates 
the  atmosphere  in  which  he  lives  according  to 
his  lung  capacity.  If  he  has  only  one  lung,  he 
appropriates  only  half  as  much  as  the  man  with 


4    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

two  lungs.  The  consumption  of  unbelief,  self- 
seeking,  or  any  other  sin  may  so  congest  our 
capacity  for  receiving  the  Spirit  that  He  can 
occupy  only  a  part  of  our  being. 

The  sun  every  day  fills  the  world  with  its 
light,  and  yet  I  may  draw  the  curtains  and  shut 
the  light  from  every  room  in  my  house,  or  ad- 
mit it  only  to  one  room.  So  the  Spirit  of  God, 
whose  presence  is  light  filling  the  church,  may 
be  admitted  to  only  one  or  two  rooms  of  our 
being. 

The  power-house  is  built  once  for  all,  and  the 
motorman  on  the  trolley  uses  the  power  fur- 
nished by  the  company  according  to  the  capac- 
ity of  the  wire  for  transmitting  and  the  ma- 
chinery on  his  car  for  utilizing  it.  At 
Pentecost  the  coming  of  the  Spirit  was  like  the 
building  of  the  power-house  once  for  all.  We 
have  not  to  pray  the  Spirit  out  of  heaven ;  He 
is  with  us  all  the  time,  but  the  measure  of  His 
power  depends  upon  the  wire  of  faith  and  con- 
secration through  which  He  may  work  the  ma- 
chinery of  our  lives  and  bring  things  to  pass. 

The  city  builds  the  reservoir  once  for  all,  but 
the  supply  of  water  for  every  house  depends  on 
the  pipe  which  connects  with  the  reservoir,  and 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  5 

the  water  will  do  the  people  no  good  unless  the 
channels  are  open  through  which  it  may  flow 
into  their  houses.  Pentecost  was  the  building 
of  the  reservoir  once  for  all.  The  Holy  Spirit 
is  to  be  ever  with  the  church,  but  His  power  de- 
pends upon  the  channels  of  faith  and  faithful- 
ness through  which  He  flows  into  our  lives. 

All  illustrations  fail  at  some  point,  but  it  is 
clear  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  atmosphere  in 
which  we  live,  and  abundant  life  is  possible  only 
when  we  let  Him  fill  our  being.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  sun  always  shining,  but  He  will 
fill  our  souls  only  as  we  keep  the  windows  open. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  dynamo  which  furnishes 
all  the  power  we  need  through  the  wires  of  faith 
and  consecration.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  reser- 
voir from  which  we  obtain  constant  supplies 
through  the  channels  of  faith  and  faithfulness. 
To  drop  all  figures  of  speech  and  state  a  blessed 
fact,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God  with  us  all  the 
time,  inviting  us  to  work  with  Him  in  omnipo- 
tent power  for  the  salvation  of  the  lost  and  the 
upbuilding  of  the  saved. 

As  soon  as  we  receive  by  faith  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  for  salvation,  we  ought  at  the  same  time 
to  receive  by  faith  the  Holy  Spirit  for  service. 


6      YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

But  in  most  cases  it  is  an  experience  after  regen- 
Relation  to  the  eration,  and  sometimes  Christ- 
New  Birth  ians  are  brought  by  failure  and 
humiliation  to  realize  the  need  of  the  Sprit  be- 
fore they  will  receive  Him  for  power  in  service, 
Charles  G.  Finney,  D.  L.  Moody,  Evan  Roberts, 
R.  A.  Torrey,  and  many  others,  distinguished  as 
soul-winners,  passed  from  an  experience  of 
weakness  to  power  with  God  and  men  by  defi- 
nitely receiving  the  Holy  Spirit  for  service. 
This  does  not  mean  a  "  second  blessing  "  which 
introduces  one  to  an  experience  of  "  sinless  per- 
fection "  and  spiritual  boasting.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  means  the  beginning  of  a  more  rapid 
growth  in  grace,  with  such  a  realization  of  un- 
worthiness  and  sinfulness  as  we  never  had  be- 
fore. The  pure  atmosphere  to  which  we  wholly 
commit  ourselves  cures  the  soul's  congestion  of 
lungs  and  enables  it  to  give  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
a  larger  place  in  its  life.  The  light  in  the 
house  leads  us  to  lift  the  curtains  that  all  the 
rooms  may  be  illuminated  and,  as  the  light  in- 
creases, the  shoddiness  of  the  furniture  and  even 
the  dust  motes  in  the  air  begin  to  be  revealed, 
leading  us  to  seek  renovation  and  cleansing. 
The  wires  from  the  dynamo  supply  such  power 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  7 

as  to  make  easy  what  seemed  before  to  be  impos- 
sible, so  that  we  cease  to  depend  upon  the  hand- 
worked machinery  in  our  church  activities,  while 
we  seek  to  have  all  our  organizations  controlled 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  pipes  from  the  reser- 
voir bring  such  refreshing  streams  into  our  lives 
that  we  turn  from  all  earthly  cisterns,  and  com- 
mend only  these  life-giving  waters. 

The  Spirit-filled  life  in  the  Christian's  normal 
condition,  and  we  should  be  satisfied  with  noth- 
ing less  than  the  best  God  has  xhe  Normal 
for  us.  In  John  7 :  38,  39  we  Life 
read,  "  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture 
saith,  from  within  him  shall  flow  rivers  of  living 
water.  But  this  spake  He  of  the  Spirit  which 
they  that  believed  on  Him  were  to  receive, 
for  the  Spirit  was  not  yet  given;  because  Jesus 
was  not  yet  glorified."  In  chapter  four,  verse 
fourteen,  Jesus  tells  us  that  the  water  He  gives 
becomes  "  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life."  Now,  a  well  is  a  fountain 
curbed  in.  There  is  no  overflow.  The  life  in 
us  is  living  water  springing  up,  but  not  over- 
flowing. The  Spirit-filled  man,  however,  is  a 
fountain  of  blessing  to  others.  The  well  over- 
flows its  curb,  and  sends  out  refreshing  and  life- 


8    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

giving  streams.  This  takes  place  only  when 
Jesus  Christ  is  glorified.  "  The  Holy  Spirit 
was  not  yet  given,  because  Jesus  was  not  yet 
glorified,"  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  always  not  yet 
given,  when  Jesus  has  not  been  glorified.  He 
testifies  of  Jesus ;  He  takes  the  things  of  Christ 
and  shows  them  unto  us.  None  of  those,  there- 
fore, who  take  from  Christ  the  glory  of  His 
deity,  or  refuse  to  enthrone  Him  in  their  lives, 
need  expect  the  fulness  and  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Christ  must  be  glorified,  if  we  would 
have  the  Spirit  of  power  in  service. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    CHURCH 

In  I.  Corinthians  1 :  2  are  two  phrases  worthy 
of  our  study.  **  All  that  in  every  place  call 
upon  the  name  of  Jesus'  Christ  our  Lord,^' 
means  that  there  is  a  church  universal,  including 
Christians  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  extending 
through  time  and  eternity.  "  The  church  of 
God  which  is  at  Corinth,"  means  that  there  is 
a  local  church  with  special  responsibilities,  and 
the  word  "  church  "  as  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment refers  most  frequently  to  the  local  church, 
as  in  "  the  churches  throughout  Galatia,"  "  the 
churches  of  Asia,"  "  the  church  at  Ephesus." 
While  we  thank  God  for  the  church  universal 
and  its  millions  of  redeemed  souls,  Christ's  mys- 
tical body  of  which  each  one  of  us  is  a  part, 
we  should  give  the  local  church  its  place  as  an 
agency  for  evangelizing  the  world  without  ex- 
alting it  to  a  saving  institution. 

A  missionary  in  India  distributed  during  an 

9 


10       YOUNG  CONVERTS  PROBLEMS 

epidemic  a  quantity  of  "  painkiller  "  which  was 
very  useful  in  healing  the  people.  After  a  few 
weeks  they  sent  him  word  that  they  had  de- 
cided to  give  up  their  gods  and  worship  his  God. 
He,  of  course,  rejoiced,  but  his  joy  turned  to 
sorrow,  when,  on  entering  one  of  their  houses, 
he  found  the  empty  bottles  in  a  row  on  a  shelf 
and  the  heathen  bowing  before  them  in  worship. 
They  looked  upon  the  bottles  that  held  the  rem- 
edy as  gods.  So  one  may  really  worship  the 
church,  which  is  only  the  medium  through  which 
God  carries  blessing  to  the  world.  And  yet  the 
danger  with  most  people  who  have  grown  up  in 
an  atmosphere  of  protest  against  ecclesiasticism 
is  that  they  will  fail  to  honor  the  church  as  they 
should,  and  some  of  them  have  many  excuses  for 
not  joining  the  church  at  all. 

Let  us  consider  a  few  of  these  excuses. 

1.  "  Unworthy  people  are  in  the  church. 
Some  of  them  are  hypocrites,  and,  as  I  admire 
Unworthy  ^^^J  honest  folks,  I  cannot  join 

People  i]^Q  church."     This  objection  is 

a  reason  why  you,  if  you  are  an  honest  believer, 
should  unite  with  the  church.  The  fact  that 
you  complain  of  bad  people  in  the  church  proves 
that  you  regard  the  church  as  a  good  institu- 


THE  CHURCH  11 

tlon.  And  you  are  really  not  joining  the  bad 
people.  Not  one  of  the  Apostles  felt  that  he 
had  joined  Judas.  The  circulation  of  counter- 
feit coin  should  not  prevent  a  man  from  using 
the  genuine.  The  counterfeit  is  a  compliment 
to  the  genuine. 

2.  "  Churches  are  too  exclusive."  That  is 
true  of  some  churches,  but  it  is  untrue  of  others. 
Some  churches  have  dwindled  Churches  Too 
into  mere  religious  clubs,  and  Exclusive 
they  seek  only  the  congenial  for  members.  But 
there  are  scores  of  others  which  are  full  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  poorest,  as  well  as  the  richest,  and 
will  welcome  into  their  memberhip  the  humblest 
man  or  woman.  You  can  find  a  church  that  is 
not  exclusive,  and  hence  this  objection  has  no 
force.  And  if  you  feel  that  you  ought  to  join 
an  exclusive  church,  God  may  use  you  as  one  of 
its  members  to  make  it  more  sympathetic  with  all 
classes.  Be  careful,  however,  that  you  watch 
against  the  pharisaical  spirit  which  is  a  subtle 
and  dangerous  form  of  spiritual  pride. 

3.  "As  belonging  to  the  church  does  not 
take  one  to  heaven,  there  is  really  no  need  of 
joining."  Let  us  look  at  this  objection  in  the 
light  of  patriotism.     Apply  it  to  citizens  during 


12   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

a  war.  Suppose  some  one  should  say :  "  We  are 
No  Need  good  patriots ;  we  love  our  coun- 

of  Joining  try,  and  we  want  to  enjoy  the 

benefits  of  victory.  We  would  like  to  be  among 
those  who,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  shall  shout 
*  huzza '  around  the  flag,  but  we  do  not  propose 
to  be  organized  into  an  army.  We  will  stay  at 
home,  or  engage  in  a  sort  of  guerrilla  warfare, 
but  we  do  not  care  to  march  in  the  ranks." 
What  sort  of  patriotism  would  that  be?  And 
yet  that  is  just  the  attitude  this  objector  holds 
to  the  church.  He  wants  to  go  to  heaven  and 
take  part  in  the  glorification,  after  the  battles 
of  the  church  have  been  won,  while  he  stays  here 
and  takes  little  part  in  the  conflict.  Such  a  dis- 
position, to  put  it  mildly,  is  not  great-hearted. 
4.  "  The  church  requires  me  to  surrender 
my  personal  liberty."  Liberty  to  do  what.? 
Personal  To  commit  sin?     To  be  sure  you 

Liberty  ^^  j^q^  want  liberty  to  do  that. 

"  No,  that  is  not  what  I  mean,"  you  reply. 
"  There  are  some  things  that  I  do  not  think  are 
wrong  which  the  church  condemns,  and  I  do 
not  feel  like  joining  the  church  and  surrender- 
ing my  liberty  to  do  what  seems  to  me  to  be 
right."     You  are  mistaken  again.     The  church 


THE  CHURCH  13 

does  not  call  upon  you  to  surrender  your  liberty 
to  do  what  you  believe  to  be  right.  To  your 
own  master  you  stand  or  fall.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  higher  liberty  than  the  liberty  of  doing 
what  we  think  to  be  right.  Paul  said,  "  I  have 
a  right  to  eat  flesh  offered  to  idols  and  to  drink 
wine,  but  if  eating  flesh  and  drinking  wine  cause 
my  brother  to  stumble,  I  will  surrender  my  lib- 
erty." The  liberty  to  surrender  liberty  for  the 
sake  of  a  weaker  brother,  is  a  Christian  privi- 
lege, and  no  one  should  stay  out  of  the  church 
because  of  some  little  difference  of  opinion  on 
questions  of  causistry. 

5.  "  I  am  too  young."  This  objection  is 
not  often  made  by  the  young  themselves,  but  by 
parents  and  guardians,  and  it  is  i  Am  Too 
usually  false.  If  such  a  parent  Young 
or  guardian  should  read  these  pages,  I  desire  to 
make  a  plea  for  the  child  Christian.  I  beg  of 
you  never  to  say  to  a  child  that  he  is  too  young 
to  become  a  Christian.  Jesus  said :  "  Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me  and  forbid  them 
not."  He  knew  that  there  would  be  a  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  some  to  forbid  them.  The 
child  who  is  old  enough  to  know  the  nature  of 
obedience  to  parents  is  old  enough  to  know  the 


14   YOUNG  CONVERT^S  PROBLEMS 

nature  of  sin.  A  child  old  enough  to  trust  a 
parent  is  old  enough  to  trust  Jesus  Christ. 
And  your  telling  him  that  he  is  too  young  and 
had  better  wait  a  while  will  set  the  child  search- 
ing after  something  which  may  never  come. 
Many  a  real  believer  has  been  lost  for  years  to 
the  church,  because  advised  by  parents  to  wait 
until  he  is  old  enough  to  know  what  he  is  about. 
I  plead  for  the  children.  Children  may  have 
fewer  temptations  to  deceive  than  older  people, 
and  the  fact  that  one  is  a  child,  believing  in 
Christ,  is  a  reason  why  he  should  belong  to  the 
church,  for  we  should  give,  not  only  our  souls, 
but  our  whole  lives  to  Jesus  Christ. 

6.  "  I  am  too  old."  This  is  a  pathetic  rea- 
son, and  it  is  sometimes  given  in  all  sincerity. 
I  ^nj  Well,  you  are  too  old  to  do  much 
Too  Old  for  the  Lord,  but  if  you  have 
but  a  few  days  remaining,  you  had  better  spend 
them  in  the  church,  making  all  you  can  of  the 
time  and  influence  that  is  left.  Try  now  to 
make  up  for  lost  time. 

7.  "  I  am  not  worthy."  We  have  reserved 
this  for  the  last,  because  it  is  the  real  reason 
with  scores  and  hundreds.  They  do  not  wish  to 
join  the  church  until  they  are  good  enough  to 


THE  CHURCH  15 

reflect  credit  upon  it.  They  love  Christ  and 
honor  His  church,  and  they  would  j  »  kt  *. 
not  for  the  world  bring  reproach  Worthy 
upon  His  cause.  I  sympathize  with  this  mo- 
tive, but  it  is  not  one  which  should  keep  a  young 
Christian  out  of  the  church.  The  Pharisee  in 
the  temple  felt  very  worthy.  His  fastings  and 
giving  tithes  were  to  him  signs  of  superiority, 
but  the  publican,  who  felt  so  unworthy  that  he 
could  not  lift  his  eyes,  while  he  smote  upon  his 
breast  saying,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin- 
ner," was  really  the  better  fitted  for  church 
membership.  When  you  have  joined  the 
church,  this  feeling  of  unworthiness  may  in- 
crease, if,  like  Paul,  you  have  a  healthy  growth 
in  the  grace  of  humility.  If  you  have  really 
accepted  Christ  as  your  Saviour  from  sin,  and 
taken  Him  as  your  Master,  you  should  join  the 
church,  and  consider  your  feeling  of  unworthi- 
ness as  the  best  preparation  for  it. 

Permit  me  now  to  submit  seven  reasons  why 
every  young  Christian  should  join  the  church: 

1.  Because  the  chunch  needs  you.  Not 
yours,  so  much  as  you.  It  will  not  suffice  to 
send  your  check.  The  river  needs  every  drop 
of  its  water,  the  sun  every  beam  of  its  light, 


16   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

and  the  church  needs  the  presence  and  influence 
The  Church  ^f  every  believer  in  the  world. 

Needs  You  Those    on    the    side    of    Satan 

do  not  hide  their  darkness ;  let  us  not  hide  our 
light.  A  candle  is  not  lighted  to  be  put  under 
a  bushel,  but  on  a  candlestick,  and  joining  the 
church  is  putting  the  light  on  a  candlestick. 

S.  Because  you  need  the  church.  There  is 
inspiration  in  elbow  touch.  While  the  church 
You  Need  i^  primarily  an  army,  marching 

the  Church  £qj>  conquest,  it  is  also  a  training 

school,  and  you  should  be  among  the  disciples 
and  learners.  Association  with  them  will  do 
you  good.  Their  sympathy,  faith  and  hope 
will  both  strengthen  and  inspire  you. 

3.  Because  the  church  is  an  institution 
founded  by  Christ.  "  On  this  rock  I  will  build 
Founded.  ^J  church,"  are  His  own  words, 
by  Christ  jf  ^rg  a^g  really  spiritual  stones, 
we  have  no  right  to  be  out  of  the  walls  of  the 
temple.  God  has  carved  us  into  shape  for  a 
place  in  it,  and  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ 
founded  the  church  brings  us  under  obligation 
to  unite  with  it. 

4.  Because  by  union  with  others  you  really 
multiply    your    influence    for    good.     Put    fire 


THE  CHURCH  17 

to  scattered  grains  of  powder,  and  there  is  sim- 
ply a  flash  and  smoke.  Put  the  Multiply 
grains  together  in  a  cartridge,  Your  Influence 
and  they  will  help  each  other  to  send  the  bullet 
whistling  through  the  air.  Organization  great- 
ly increases  power.  "  One  shall  chase  a 
thousand,  and  two  shall  put  ten  thousand  to 
flight."  The  union  of  two  increases  the  power, 
not  two-fold,  but  ten-fold. 

5.  Because  a  good  man's  influence  out  of 
the  church  may  count  against  Christ.  I  re- 
member a  gentleman  in  a  former  influence 
pastorate  who  was  one  of  the  Against  Christ 
most  cultured  and  moral  men  of  the  community. 
He  took  interest  in  religion,  even  taught  a  Sun- 
day-school class,  but  his  feeling  of  unworthiness 
kept  him  from  uniting  with  the  church.  Now, 
do  not  be  shocked  when  I  say  that  this  man  did 
the  church  about  as  much  harm  as  any  two  or 
three  drunkards  in  the  community.  When  I 
talked  to  young  men  about  making  a  public 
confession  of  their  faith  in  Christ,  they  would 
point  to  this  gentleman,  and  remark  that  they 
were  willing  to  take  his  chances  for  salvation. 
He  did  not  see  fit  to  join  the  church,  and  why 
should  they.f^     He  was  better  than  one-half  the 


18  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

church  members.  So  that  man's  morality, 
which  he  owed  to  the  church,  was  a  weapon 
wielded  against  the  church,  and  the  cause  which 
he  really  loved  he  was  injuring  by  refusing  to 
unite  with  the  church.  If  good  men  who  be- 
lieve in  Christ  would  keep  from  doing  immense 
harm,  they  must  unite  with  the  church. 

6.  Because  joining  the  church  is  a  public 
confession  of  allegiance.     It  is  an  act  of  obe- 
dience, and   Christ  has  promised 
special    blessing    to    those    who 

confess  Him  before  men. 

7.  Because  the  church  is  "  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth."  God  wants  not  only  in- 
Pillars  of  dividual  witnesses,  but  an  organi- 
the  Truth  zation  to  witness  for  Him.  We, 
as  individuals,  may  in  a  sense  be  pillars  of  the 
truth,  but  certainly  our  influence  on  the  side  of 
truth  will  be  increased,  if  we  are  known  to  be 
members  of  the  church. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   BIBLE 

Some  great  structures,  like  St.  Peter's  Cathe- 
dral, were  centuries  in  process  of  building. 
Their  foundations  were  laid  by  one  generation, 
and  their  capstones  by  another.  But  more  in- 
teresting than  the  erection  of  any  structures  of 
brick  and  stone  is  the  building  of  God's  temple 
of  revealed  truth.  The  five  books  of  Moses  are 
the  solid  granite  layers  upon  which  it  is 
founded.  Resting  upon  this  foundation  the 
superstructure  rises  story  upon  story,  the  his- 
torical books,  the  devotional  books,  the  pro- 
phetic books,  the  Gospels,  the  Acts,  the  Epistles 
and  Revelation. 

We  invite  the  young  Christian  to  walk  with 
us  through  this  wonderful  building. 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  library  where  we  stop 
long  enough  to  learn  the  facts  which  cannot  be 
found  anywhere  else.  We  learn  the  origin  of 
things,  of  matter,  of  sin,  of  crime,  of  arts  and 

19 


20   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

sciences,   of  the   family,    of   the   nation.     And 

.  ,  .,  here  are  God's  thoughts.     If  we 

A  Library  ^ 

would    develop    the    mind,    we 

must  think  after  God.  Great  words  like  om- 
nipotence, omniscience,  eternity,  infinity,  can 
apply  to  God  only,  and  the  man  who  refuses  to 
enter  this  divine  library  and  think  God's 
thoughts  after  Him  is  robbing  his  mind  of  en- 
largement. 

And  here  is  a  great  picture  gallery.  We 
have  the  portrait  of  man  as  he  was  in  the  image 
A  Picture  of     God,     and     as     he     became 

Gallery  through  the  blighting  power  of 

sin.  There  are  some  very  repulsive  pictures. 
I  saw  in  the  Art  Gallery  in  London  a  portrait 
entitled  "  A  Man,"  and  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  room  another  picture  entitled  "  A  Woman." 
They  gave  the  artist's  view  of  what  real  man- 
hood and  womanhood  meant.  Greater  than 
king  or  queen  is  a  genuine  man  or  woman.  But 
in  this  same  gallery  I  saw  other  pictures,  which 
showed  how  men  and  women  have  been  marred 
by  sin,  their  beauty  defaced,  their  features  dis- 
torted, their  lives  wrecked.  And  we  have  in  the 
Bible  a  picture  of  the  evil  forces  that  ruin  our 
race.     Here  is  the  portrait  of  Satan  himself — - 


THE  BIBLE  21 

cunning,  deceptive,  malicious.  And  here  is  the 
picture  of  every  sin  we  are  called  upon  to  shun. 
Some  one  sent  to  Martin  Luther  the  picture  of 
a  man  who  had  threatened  to  kill  him  with 
poison.  Luther  carried  this  picture  with  him, 
so  that  he  might  be  protected  from  the  mur- 
derer if  he  should  meet  him. 

Here,  too,  is  the  armory  in  which  we  may  be 
equipped  for  the  battle  against  sin.  "  Take 
unto  you  the  whole  armor  of 
God,"  "the  shield  of  faith,"  An  Armory 
"  the  helmet  of  salvation,"  "  the  breastplate  of 
righteousness,"  "  the  girdle  of  truth,"  and  "  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit."  When,  at  his  coronation, 
the  sword  was  delivered  to  Edward  11. ,  having 
received  it,  he  said :  "  There  is  yet  another 
sword  to  be  delivered  to  me,  the  Sacred  Bible, 
which  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,"  and  with  the 
sword  of  steel  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  of 
truth  in  the  other,  he  entered  upon  his  high 
office.  As  followers  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  we 
may  lay  aside  the  sword  of  steel,  but  we  need 
to  take  and  use  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  in  an 
aggressive  warfare  against  all  sorts  of  sin. 

In  this  building  there  is  a  high  observatory, 
from  the  top  of  which  we  have  a  broad  and 


2£   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

distant  view.  There  is  not  only  a  record  of 
An  Observa-  "^hat  has  been,  but  of  what  will 
*°n^  be.     The  prophets  with  eagle  eye 

peered  into  the  future,  and  history  is  a  record  of 
these  prophetic  fulfilments.  From  the  top  of 
this  observatory  in  the  Book  of  the  Revelation 
we  look  into  heaven  itself,  and  down  the  vista 
of  eternity  all  radiant  with  the  glory  of  the 
Lamb.  Sometimes  as  we  look  about  us,  evil  ap- 
pears to  be  triumphant.  The  righteous  are  in 
the  minority,  darkness  seems  to  gather,  but 
when  we  climb  to  the  top  of  this  prophetic  ob- 
servatory and  look  into  the  future,  our  hearts 
are  cheered  by  the  hope  that  sooner  or  later  vic- 
tory will  come. 

Joseph  S.  Speed  on  visiting  his  friend  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  found  the  President  reading  the 
Bible.     He  said  to  him: 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you  so  profitably  en- 
gaged." 

"  Yes,"  answered  ^Ir.  Lincoln,  looking  up 
with  a  serious  expression,  "  I  am  profitably  en- 
gaged." 

Faith  of  Three  "  Well"  said  Speed,  "  If  you 
Great  Men  have  recovered  from  your  scepti- 

cism, I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  have  not." 


THE  BIBLE  23 

"  You  are  wrong,  Speed,"  replied  this  man 
of  common  sense,  "  take  all  this  Book  upon  rea- 
son that  you  can  and  the  rest  upon  faith,  and 
you  will,  I  am  sure,  live  and  die  a  happier  and 
a  better  man." 

Lincoln  in  the  darkest  hour  of  his  life  found 
the  promises  of  the  Bible  the  light  that  guided 
and  cheered  him. 

When  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  dying,  he  said 
to  his  secretary,  "  Give  me  the  Book."  "  What 
book.'^  "  "  There  is  only  one  Book,"  replied 
the  novelist,  and  the  secretary  handed  him  the 
Bible.  Locke's  definition  of  the  Bible  has  not 
been  improved  upon :  "  It  has  God  for  its  Au- 
thor, salvation  for  its  end,  and  the  truth  without 
any  admixture  of  error  for  its  matter."  When 
Bishop  Fisher  was  on  his  way  to  the  place  of 
execution,  he  took  from  his  pocket  a  little  Greek 
Testament,  and  looking  up  to  heaven  exclaimed, 
"  Now,  O  Lord,  direct  me  to  some  passage  which 
may  support  me  through  this  awful  scene."  As 
he  opened  the  book,  his  eye  fell  upon  the  text: 
"  This  is  life  eternal  that  they  might  know  thee 
the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou 
hast  sent."     The  Bishop  closed  the  Book  and 


U        YOUNG  CONVERTS  PROBLEMS 

said,  "  Praise  the  Lord !  This  is  sufficient  both 
for  time  and  eternity." 

Such  a  book  is  worthy  of  our  reverent  and 
patient  study.  Let  us  look  into  it  and  see  what 
The  Bible's  Tes- it  teaches  concerning  itself.  In 
timony  to  Itself  Jq^^  5  .  39  jgsus  said  :      "  Search 

the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 
eternal  life,  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of 
me."  And  in  II.  Timothy  3:16  we  read,  "  All 
Scripture  is  God-breathed  and  is  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may 
be  complete,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works."  In  these  two  Scriptures  are  four 
things  which  every  young  Christian  should 
know. 

I.  A  biblical  definition  of  the  Bible.  The 
phrase,  "  the  Scriptures,"  suggests  a  synthetic 
Definition  definition    of    the    Bible.      There 

of  the  Bible  were  other  writings,  but  these 
were  the  writings ;  and  every  Jew  to  whom  Jesus 
spoke  knew  the  writings  to  which  He  referred. 
They  had  them  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  and  also 
a  translation  into  the  Greek,  known  as  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  made  nearly  three  hundred  years  before 
Christ.     But  it  takes  our  second  Scripture  to 


THE  BIBLE  25 

complete  this  definition  of  the  Bible  —  "  Every 
Scripture  is  God-breathed."  A  noted  scholar 
has  taken  the  pains  to  collate  the  texts  in  the 
New  Testament  where  this  Greek  idiom  occurs, 
and  he  declares  that  the  King  James  version, 
and  not  the  Revised,  is  the  correct  translation, 
and  several  eminent  scholars  on  the  Committee 
of  Revision  agreed  with  him.  "  All  Scripture 
is  God-breathed "  is  evidently  what  the  Holy 
Spirit  meant  to  write.  Of  course,  the  writers 
were  inspired.  "  Holy  men  of  God  spake  as 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit  "  (II.  Pet. 
1 :  21).  "  The  Holy  Ghost  spake  by  the  mouth 
of  David"  (Acts  1:16).  "The  word  of  the 
Lord  came  expressly  unto  Ezekiel "  (Ezek. 
1:3).  But  the  writings  as  well  as  the  writers 
were  inspired,  because  "  all  Scripture  is  God- 
breathed."  God,  who  "  breathed  into  man  the 
breath  of  life  and  he  became  a  living  soul,"  has 
also  breathed  into  His  Book  the  breath  of  life, 
so  that  it  is  "  the  word  of  God  which  liveth  and 
abideth  forever." 

There  are  many  writers,  but  one  Author. 
These  writers  were  not  automatons.  Each  one 
shows  his  own  style  and  personality  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  uses. 


^6      YOUNG  COxNVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

II.  A  biblical  use  of  the  Bible.  It  is  four- 
fold :  "  Profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof, 
The  Use  of  ^^^'  correction,  for  instniction  in 
the  Bible  righteousness."      "  Doctrine "    is 

the  teaching,  not  of  the  7nan  as  he  may  express 
his  opinion  in  social  converse,  but  of  the  am- 
bassador who  carries  with  him  the  weight  of  his 
government's  authority;  and  in  the  Bible  we  find 
God's  official  proclamation  of  love,  pardon, 
cleansing,  righteousness  and  peace. 

The  word  "  reproof "  comes  after  doctrine, 
because  it  has  to  do  with  the  character  which 
doctrine  makes.  The  Bible  is  profitable  not 
only  for  the  doctrine  which  we  get  out  of  it,  but 
it  is  the  standard  by  which  we  try  our  doc- 
trines. It  proves  and  reproves.  It  is  the 
plumb-line  that  we  drop  by  the  wall  to  see  if  it 
is  straight.  It  is  the  yard-stick  by  which  we 
measure  every  creed. 

The  word  "  correction "  means  restoration, 
and  gives  a  thought  in  advance  of  doctrine  and 
reproof.  It  has  in  it  the  thought  of  making 
right  what  we  have  found  to  be  wrong.  The 
plumb-line  may  show"  that  the  wall  leans,  but 
it  cannot  straighten  it.  The  3'ard-stlck  may 
reveal  that  the  cloth  Is  too  short,  but  it  cannot 


THE  BIBLE  27 

lengthen  it.  The  Bible,  however,  not  only 
shows  us  wherein  we  are  wrong,  but  it  can  right 
us.  When  Canova  saw  the  piece  of  marble 
which,  at  great  expense,  had  been  secured  for 
a  celebrated  statue,  his  practiced  eye  discovered 
a  little  piece  of  black  running  through  it,  and 
he  rejected  it.  He  could  discover  the  black, 
but  he  could  not  make  the  black  white.  The 
Bible  discovers  the  black  and  makes  it  white. 

The  fourth  word,  "  instruction,"  means  liter- 
ally "  child-culture,"  and  has  in  it  all  that  the 
parent  needs  for  the  growth,  development  and 
maturing  of  the  child.  The  Bible  is  a  train- 
ing school  in  righteousness.  Other  books  give 
training  in  music,  rhetoric,  oratory,  but  the 
specialty  of  the  Bible  is  training  in  righteous- 
ness. 

III.  A  biblical  method  of  Bible  studij.  It 
is  suggested  by  the  two  words  "  search  "  and 
"  profitable."  Whatever  is  prof-  Method  of 
itable  is  apt  to  cost  labor.  The  ^^^le  Study 
worthless  we  can  get  without  effort.  Hence 
the  strength  of  the  phrase  "  search  the  Scrip- 
tures." It  means  to  "  look  through  and 
through."  It  is  the  word  used  in  the  Scinp- 
ture,  "  The  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the 


28   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

deep  things  of  God."  As  God  searches  our 
hearts,  so  let  us  search  the  Bible. 

The  Bible  unsearched  Is  a  mine  unworked, 
the  difference  between  the  Klondyke  years  ago 
The  Unworked  ^^^^  the  Klondyke  enriching  its 
■^^"^  industrious    owners    to-day.     To 

learn  the  Word  of  God  requires  diligent  and 
persistent  searching.  A  man  who  died  in  an 
English  almshouse  several  years  ago  gave  to  his 
relatives  an  unproductive  piece  of  land,  so 
worthless  that  he  did  not  have  to  pay  taxes  on 
it.  The  relatives  searched  it,  and  as  a  result 
they  are  to-day  millionaires.  The  pauper  was 
rich  without  knowing  it,  and  he  was  ignorant  of 
the  fact  because  he  did  not  search  his  possessions. 

Every  Christian  with  the  Bible  in  hand  is 
rich  whether  he  knows  it  or  not.  Let  him 
search  and  find  hidden  treasures.  This  search 
implies  sight  and  light.  There  Is  need  of  spir- 
itual discernment.  "  The  natural  man  discem- 
eth  not  the  things  of  God."  And  hence  the 
need  of  inspiration  which  comes  from  trusting 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Revealer  of  Truth. 
When  Galileo  turned  his  little  telescope  to  the 
heavens,  he  found  that  he  really  had  a  new  pair 
of  eyes.     He  could  now  see  the  mountains  of 


THE  BIBLE  29 

the  moon,  the  satellites  of  Neptune,  and  the  ring 
around  Saturn.  So  we  read  the  Bible  in  the 
light  of  the  Bible  and  as  more  light  comes,  bet- 
ter sight  is  imparted;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
as  better  sight  is  imparted,  more  light  is  re- 
vealed. 

The  Christian  with  spiritual  discernment  can 
afford  to  "  search  the  Scriptures "  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  alone  as  his  guide.  Diogenes  and 
Commentaries  are  good,  but  not  Alexander 
good  as  substitutes  for  independent  search. 
When  Alexander  the  Great  stood  before  Di- 
ogenes as  he  sat  by  his  tub,  the  general  asked 
the  philosopher  what  he  could  do  for  him. 
The  rather  grim  reply  was,  "  Simply  get  out  of 
my  light."  And  any  searcher  has  a  right  to 
say  "  Get  out  of  my  light  "  to  every  one  whose 
shadow  comes  between  him  and  the  Truth. 

Any  method  of  searching  is  good,  though 
some  may  be  better  than  others.  The  "  grass- 
hopper method  "  by  which  we  Grasshopper 
take  a  word  or  subject  and  jump  Method 
from  one  place  to  another,  collating  the 
texts  which  have  the  word  or  subject  in  them, 
is  not  to  be  despised.  God  shook  the  world 
through    Dwight    L.    Moody,    who    was    fond 


30   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

of  this  method.  I  have  learned  to  love  what, 
for  lack  of  a  better  word,  I  call  the  sectional 
method,  by  which  one  begins  at  a  certain  place 
and  goes  through  paragraph,  chapter  or  book, 
gathering  and  classifying  every  thought.  It 
reminds  one  of  Mr.  Spurgeon's  saying  sug- 
gested by  the  worm-eaten  Bible  which  he  found 
on  the  table  of  a  Scottish  wayside  inn.  Hold- 
ing it  up  to  the  light,  he  noticed  only  one  hole 
through  which  the  light  shone.  One  worm,  it 
seems,  had  begun  at  Genesis  and  eaten  through 
to  Revelation,  and  Spurgeon  prayed,  "  Lord, 
make  me  a  book-worm  like  that."  Such  a  book- 
worm never  turns  into  an  earth-worm.  It  will 
have  wings  by  and  by. 

But  whatever  be  your  method,  do  not  fail  to 
read  the  Bible  by  books.     Read  Genesis   at  a 

sittins:.     You  can  do  it  in   less 
Book  by  Book      .         °  ,  ,  rr.i  .   i 

than    three    hours.      Ihen    take 

Exodus ;  then  Leviticus,  and  so  on  through  the 
whole  library  of  sixty-six  volumes.  The  as- 
tronomer should  look  at  the  heavens  as  a  whole 
before  he  takes  to  his  telescope.  The  botanist 
should  look  at  the  fields  and  gardens  before  he 
takes  to  his  microscope.  If  you  have  not  read 
the  Scriptures,  a  book  at  a  sitting,  you  may 


THE  BIBLE  31 

take  it  for  granted  that  you  do  not  know  your 
Bible. 

The  study  of  words  yields  a  rich  harvest  of 
knowledge  and  blessing.  Every  Bible  student 
should,    if    possible,    have    some  Study  of 

knowledge    of    Greek,    the    Ian-  Words 

guage  in  which  the  New  Testament  was  written. 
Cato  learned  Greek  at  eighty  years  of  age,  and 
any  one  of  average  intelligence  can  learn 
enough  of  this  beautiful  language  to  greatly 
assist  him  in  his  studies  by  devoting  an  hour  a 
week  for  a  year  or  two.  In  Brooklyn  an  ex- 
pastor  taught  a  New  Testament  Greek  class  one 
evening  in  the  week,  and  a  woman  over  seventy 
joined  the  class.  He  said  to  her:  "You  are 
going  to  rub  up  on  Greek?  "  "  Rub  up  noth- 
ing !  "  she  replied,  "  I  do  not  know  the  alpha- 
bet, but  the  pastor  said  from  the  pulpit  Sunday 
morning  that  Cato  learned  Greek  at  eighty,  and 
what  a  man  can  do  at  eighty  a  woman  can  cer- 
tainly do  at  seventy."  And  she  persevered  for 
two  years,  till  she  could  read  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment with  pleasure  and  profit. 

Take  the  English  word  "  minister "  which 
represents  three  words  in  Greek,  one  of  which 
means  a  private  servant,  like  John  Brown,  the 


32   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

private  servant  of  Queen  Victoria;  another 
means  official  servant,  like  Lord  Pauncefort,  who 
was  the  official  representative  of  the  Queen  at 
Washington ;  still  another  means  an  "  under- 
rov/er."  We  have  in  it  a  picture  of  the  cap- 
tain of  an  ancient  trireme  standing  in  front  of 
his  oarsmen  and  giving  them  the  stroke.  As 
they  strike  with  him,  they,  of  course,  strike  with 
each  other,  and  keep  in  perfect  harmony.  So 
we  are  to  take  the  stroke  from  Christ.  We  are 
to  learn  what  He  is  doing  in  the  church  of  which 
we  are  a  member,  in  the  community  where  we 
live,  or  in  the  world,  and  when  we  have  a  con- 
viction that  He  is  leading  in  any  movement,  re- 
ligious, moral,  social,  or  political,  we  take  the 
stroke  from  Him,  and  do  all  we  can  to  advance 
the  cause  in  which  He  is  interested.  Without 
a  knowledge  of  Greek,  this  does  not  appear. 

Luther  said  that  he  studied  the  Bible  as  he 
gathered  apples.  First,  he  shook  the  whole 
Luther*s  tree,  that  the  ripest  might  fall. 

Method  Then    he    climbed   the   tree    and 

shook  each  limb,  and  when  he  had  shaken  each 
limb,  he  shook  each  branch,  and  after  each 
branch  every  twig,  and  then  looked  under  each 
leaf.    Let  us  search  the  Bible  as  a  whole ;  shake 


THE  BIBLE  33 

the  whole  tree;  read  it  as  rapidly  as  you  would 
any  other  book ;  then  shake  every  limb,  studying 
book  after  book.  Then  shake  every  branch ; 
give  attention  to  the  chapters  when  they  do  not 
break  the  sense.  Then  shake  every  twig  by 
careful  study  of  the  paragraphs  and  sentences, 
and  you  will  be  rewarded,  if  you  will  look 
under  every  leaf  by  searching  the  meaning  of 
words. 

IV.     A     hiblical    motive    for    Bible    study. 
This  is  two-fold. 

1.  That  we  may  have  right  thinking  about 
eternal  life.  "  In  them  ye  think  ye  have 
eternal  life."  In  Christ  we  have  Motive  for 
eternal  life,  but  in  the  Scriptures  ^'^^^^  Study 
is  our  thinking  about  it.  We  have  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  man  whose  "  delight  is  in  the  law  of 
the  Lord,  and  in  His  law  doth  he  meditate  day 
and  night."  My  arch  of  salvation  rests  upon 
two  pillars.  The  first  pillar  is  what  Christ  did 
for  me,  and  that  is  always  the  same  length. 
Time  was  when  the  second  pillar  was  assurance 
of  salvation  through  my  feelings.  If  I  felt  well 
and  happy,  that  pillar  was  of  the  right  length, 
and  seemed  solid  enough,  but  when  dyspepsia 
gave  me   depressed   feelings,  the   pillar   seemed 


S4i    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

shorter  and  threatened  the  arch.  One  day, 
however,  I  read  I.  John  5 :13.  "  These  things 
have  I  written  unto  you  that  beheve  on  the 
name  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  ye  may  know  that 
ye  have  eternal  life."  And  I  saw  that  I  was 
expected  to  trust  the  Scriptures  and  not  my 
feelings  for  assurance.  From  that  day  the  pil- 
lar of  assurance  has  been  all  the  time  of  the 
same  length,  for  God's  word  never  changes. 
Feelings  may  come  and  go,  but  "  I  keep  on  be- 
lieving "  the  promise.  I  think  I  have  eternal 
life,  not  because  I  feel  so  and  so,  but  because 
God  says  so.  Now,  the  pillar  of  Christ's  merit 
and  the  pillar  of  His  promise  are  of  the  same 
length,  and  the  arch  of  salvation  is  no  longer 
threatened  by  changing  feelings. 

2.  That  we  may  learn  of  Jesus.  ''  They 
are  they  which  testify  of  me."  Few  things  are 
more  interesting  and  none  more  profitable  than 
tracing  the  Messianic  idea  through  the  Bible. 
It  begins  with  the  curse  upon  the  serpent  in  Gen- 
esis, and  closes  with  "  the  Lamb  as  it  had  been 
slain  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  "  in  the  Reve- 
lation. In  Christian  character  the  image  of 
Christ  is  marred  by  imperfections,  if  not  by 
sins,  but  in  the  Scriptures  the  portrait  is  per- 


THE  BIBLE  35 

feet.  A  friend  described  to  me  a  painting 
which  hung  on  the  wall  of  his  boyhood  home. 
When  you  first  saw  it,  it  was  a  beautiful  land- 
scape with  trees,  streams,  houses  and  people, 
but,  while  gazing  upon  it,  all  these  beautiful 
things  began  to  form  into  a  human  face.  On  a 
closer  inspection  you  perceived  that  the  whole 
picture  was  intended  to  give  the  face  of  Christ. 
The  devout  student  of  the  Scriptures  is  con- 
stantly having  experiences  like  this.  He  sees 
in  the  Bible  trees  of  faithfulness,  streams  of 
truth,  landscapes  of  loveliness  in  deed  and  char- 
acter, but  they  are  all  so  arranged  in  their  rela- 
tion to  Christ  as  to  bring  out  the  features  of 
His  character.  While  we  thus  see  Him  as  He  is, 
we  become  more  and  more  like  Him,  until  by 
and  by  we  shall  see  His  unveiled  face  and  be 
completely  transformed  into  His  likeness. 
"  Search  the  Scriptures  "  with  a  view  to  seeing 
Jesus. 


CHAPTER  IV 


PRAYER 


The  disciples  said  to  Jesus,  "  Lord,  teach  us 
to  pray,"  and  His  message  concerning  prayer  is 
five-fold :  no  part  complete  without  the  other 
four  parts. 

The  first  part  of  the  message  is  that  in  prayer 
we  ask  for  something  and  receive  it.  Prayer 
I.  Definite  is   petition.      "  Ask    and   it   shall 

Petition  be   given   you"      (Luke      11:9). 

"  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask,  that  will  I  do."  "  If 
ye  shall  ask  anything  I  will  do  it"  (John 
14:13,  14).  Prayer  is  not  meditation  on  the 
good.  Prayer  is  not  living  right,  though  liv- 
ing right  has  a  relation  to  prayer.  Prayer  is 
not  quietly  doing  the  will  of  God.  As  defined 
by  Jesus,  it  is  asking  of  Him  and  receiving  what 
we  ask. 

Our  Lord  uses  four  words  in  the  Greek  which 
are  translated  by  the  English  word  "  to  pray  " 

S6 


PRAYER  37 

and  a  study  of  these  will  reveal  the  impulse 

that  prompts   the   askinsf.      One  t 

^         ,      ,  °  Inquiry 

word  has  in  it  the  thought  of 
inquiry.  We  go  to  God  in  prayer  to  ask  ques- 
tions and  learn  of  Him  what  we  ought  to  do. 
We  are  ignorant.  There  are  many  things  we 
cannot  understand,  and  through  prayer  we  seek 
an  explanation.  This  is  the  word  which  Jesus 
uses  when  He  says  of  the  sin  unto  death,  "  I  do 
not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it"  (I  John 
5:16),  which  simply  means,  "  I  do  not  say  that 
he  shall  inquire  about  it."  Leave  the  matter 
entirely  with  God.  Seek  the  salvation  of  all 
without  reference  to  any  unpardonable   sin. 

Another  word  has  in  it  the  sense  of  need.  It 
is  the  word  used  in  describing  the  prayer  meet- 
ing    after     Pentecost :     "  When 

Need 
they  had  prayed,  the  place  was 

shaken  where  they  were  assembled"  (Acts 
4:31).  There  was  a  deep  sense  of  need  which 
appealed  to  God  and  moved  "  the  arm  that 
moves  the  world."  Mr.  Potts,  the  Quaker, 
walking  about  Valley  Forge  in  the  snow,  heard 
the  voice  of  prayer  in  the  neighboring  woods, 
and  on  approaching  he  found  George  Washing- 
ton on  his  knees,  expressing  to  God  the  great 


38  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

need  of  the  army  and  the  country.  That  was 
prayer  prompted  by  a  sense  of  need. 

Another  word  has  in  it  the  thought  of  call- 
ing to  one's  aid,  and  was  used  by  Christ  when 
He  said,  "  Thinkest  thou  that  I 
cannot  now  pray  to  my  Father, 
and  He  will  presently  give  me  more  than  twelve 
legions  of  angels?"  (Matt.  26:53).  This  im- 
plies that  God  in  answering  prayer  comes  to  the 
aid  of  His  people.  A  little  boy  on  board  a 
ship  understood  this.  He  was  ordered  by  the 
captain  to  perform  the  very  dangerous  feat  of 
going  up  into  the  rigging  during  a  storm.  Be- 
fore going  up,  he  went  down  into  the  hold  for 
a  few  minutes,  and  then  did  successfully  what 
he  was  commanded.  On  being  asked  why  he 
went  down  into  the  hold,  he  said :  "  I  went 
down  to  ask  God  to  go  with  me  up  there."  He 
believed  in  a  God  who  is  a  "  present  help  "  in 
time  of  need,  and  this  God  would  have  us  pray 
for  His  aid. 

The  remaining  word  has  in  it  the  thought 

of  thanksgiving  and  praise.     This  is  the  word 

.  most  frequently  used  by  Christ. 

OratituQC 

Watch  and  pray  that  ye  enter 

not  into  temptation"   (Matt.  26:41),  as  if  a 


PRAYER  39 

grateful,  praiseful  spirit  in  our  petitions  makes 
a  sort  of  double  shield  of  safety. 

All  of  these  words  have  in  them  the  primary 
thought  of  asking  that  we  may  receive,  whether 
the  asking  be  prompted  by  a  spirit  of  inquiry, 
a  sense  of  need,  a  desire  for  help,  or  a  spirit  of 
praise,  and  we  rejoice  that  God  never  wearies 
with  our  petitions.  He  delights  to  "  give  good 
things  to  them  that  ask  Him"   (Matt.  7:11). 

But  we  need  more  than  gifts  from  God. 
Our  greatest  need  many  times  is  that  He  shall 
act  for  us  rather  than  give  to  us,  God's  Gifts 
and  it  is  comforting  to  learn  that  *"**  ^^*^ 
God  worlds  in  answer  to  prayer.  "  Ask  and  it 
shall  be  given  unto  you,"  is  not  plainer  than  the 
other  promise,  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  that 
will  I  do."  God's  doings  may  be  more  precious 
than  His  gifts.  In  this  connection  Jesus  tells 
us  how  difficulties  great  as  mountains  may  be 
removed.  The  man  who  prays  can  face  the 
difficulties  and  by  the  power  of  prayer  remove 
them.  He  can  "  say  to  this  mountain  " ;  but  he 
must  first  learn  to  speak  to  God  in  prayer,  if  he 
would  speak  to  the  mountain  in  power.  There 
is  no  ignoring  difficulties  as  if  they  were  insig- 
nificant.    But  while  we  recognize  the  mountain 


40  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

as  high  and  heavy,  we  beheve  in  a  God  with 
power  great  enough  to  cast  it  into  the  sea. 
Tennyson  is  right  when  he  sings: 

"  More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.      Wherefore  let 

thy  voice 
Rise  Hke  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 
For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats, 
That  nourish  a  bhnd  life  within  the  brain, 
If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 
Both  for  themselves,  and  those  who  call  them 

friends  ? 
For  so  the  whole  round  world  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 

And  yet  I  sympathize  with  Dr.  Lorimer's 
criticism  of  the  last  line.  "  Bound  by  gold 
chains  about  the  feet  of  God  "  implies  subjec- 
tion, if  not  slavery,  and  does  not  savor  of  the 
familiar  relations  between  child  and  father.  A 
better  figure  would  be  "  Bound  with  silken  cords 
about  the  heart  of  God."  "  Ye  are  my 
friends,"  said  Jesus,  "  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I 
command  you  "  (John  15: 14),  and  He  delights 
to  be  our  friend  by  doing  what  we  ask  Him. 
There  is  more  in  prayer  than  abject  submission. 


PRAYER  41 

Reginald  Heber,  I  think,  sings  the  truth  more 
clearly  than  Tennyson : 

"  There  is  an  eye  that  never  sleeps, 

Beneath  the  wing  of  night ; 
There  is  an  ear  that  ricver  shuts, 

When  sink  the  beams  of  light. 
There  is  an  arm  that  never  tires, 

When  human  strength  gives  way ; 
There  is  a  love  that  never  fails. 

When  earthly  loves  decay. 
That  eye  is  fixed  on  seraph  throngs ; 
That  ear  is  filled  with  angels'  songs; 
That  arm  upholds  the  world  on  high; 
That  love  is  throned  beyond  the  sky. 
But  there's  a  power  which  men  can  wield 

When  mortal  aid  is  vain. 
That  eye,  that  arm,  that  love  to  reach, 

That  listening  ear  to  gain; 
That  power  is  prayer,  which  soars  on  high, 
And  feeds  on  bliss  beyond  the  sky." 

The  second  part  of  the  message  of  Jesus  con- 
cerning prayer  is  that  we  should  ask  in  His 
name.     "  Whatsoever     ye     shall  2.  In  His 

ask  m  my  namey  that  will  I  do,"  Name 

He  tells  us.  And  again,  "  If  ye  shall  ask  any- 
thing in  my  name,  I  will  do  it."  This,  of 
course,    means    for    the    sake    of    Christ,    but 


42  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

^'  name  "  in  the  Bible  stands  for  character,  so 
that  when  we  pray  in  the  name  of  Christ  we 
are  praying  in  the  character  of  Christ.  We  ask 
for  what  can  be  given  us  according  to  His 
character.  I  cannot,  therefore,  expect  my  sel- 
fish prayers  to  be  answered  any  more  than  the 
prayers  of  James  and  John  for  fire  upon  the 
Samaritans  were  answered.  It  was  not  accord- 
ing to  the  character  of  Christ.  It  would  be  un- 
fitting to  ask  a  man  to  steal  in  the  name  of  an 
honest  man,  or  to  lie  in  the  name  of  One  who  is 
Truth,  or  to  be  impure  in  the  name  of  the  Most 
Holy  One. 

"  If  we  ask  anything  according  to  His  will, 
He  heareth  us,"  we  are  told  and  so  the  model 
prayer  is  the  standard  of  His  will.  "  Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven  "  means  that  His  will 
is  for  us  to  be  filial  towards  God  and  social  to- 
wards each  other.  Whatever  a  loving  father 
would  give  to  his  children  we  may  ask  of  God, 
but  we  come,  not  saying  "  my  Father,"  but 
"  our  Father."  We  ask  for  what  is  best  for 
the  whole  family.  "  Hallowed  be  thy  name " 
shows  that  His  will  is  that  we  should  be  rever- 
ential, for  adoration  is  an  element  of  prayer. 
"  Thy   kingdom   come "   reveals   His   will   that 


PRAYER  43 

we  should  be  missionary  in  spirit.  "  Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  in  heaven  "  tells  us  that  His 
will  is  for  us  to  be  submissive,  while  we  seek  to 
transform  earth  into  heaven.  "  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread  "  plainly  shows  that  it  is 
His  will  for  us  to  have  the  necessities  of  life  for 
body  and  soul.  "  And  lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion "  indicates  that  it  is  His  will  for  us  to  be 
cautious  and  wary  of  evil.  "  But  deliver  us 
from  the  evil  one "  assures  us  that  it  is  His 
will  for  us  to  be  victorious  over  Satan,  however 
severe  his   assaults. 

The  third  part  of  the  message  of  Jesus  con- 
cerning prayer  is  that  in  prayer  we  ask  in  faith 

for  something  in  His  name.        He 

, ,     1      ^^    ^M      ..  ^Ti     .         3-  In  Faith 
says    m    Mark    11 :  24,    "  What 

things  soever  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  believe  that 

ye    receive    them,    and    ye    shall    have    them." 

Again  in  Matt.  21 :22,  "  All  things  whatsoever 

ye  shall  ask  in  prayer  believing  ye  shall  receive." 

"Dost    thou    believe.''"    was   the   test   question. 

"  All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth." 

To  the  blind  men  who  had  confessed  their  faith 

Jesus  said,  "  According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto 

you,"  and  their  sight  was  restored.     Unless  a 

patient  has  faith  in  the  physician  he  is  certain 


M    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

not  to  commit  himself  unreservedly  to  his  treat- 
ment. Unless  men  in  business  trust  each  other, 
they  cannot  successfully  transact  their  affairs. 
Faith  is  the  foundation  of  the  home,  of  the  state, 
and  of  commerce.  Without  confidence  there  can 
be  no  home,  no  state,  no  system  of  trade.  So 
that  when  we  think  of  praying  for  a  thing  we 
have  need  to  ask  one  question.  Is  it  within  the 
circle  of  God's  wilLf^  If  so,  believe  that  God 
will  grant  it,  and  with  holy  boldness  press  your 
petition  until  He  does  so.  The  fact  that  I  desire 
it  is  permission  to  pray,  for  "  What  things  so- 
ever ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  re- 
ceive them,  and  ye  shall  have  them."  And  prayer 
is  the  crucible  which  tests  the  quality  of  our 
desires.  After  we  have  brought  them  to  God  in 
prayer,  we  are  not  long  in  discovering  whether 
or  not  they  are  according  to  His  will,  and  if  we 
have  a  desire  which  we  cannot  bring  to  God  in 
prayer,  we  had  better  take  the  advice  of  Cole- 
ridge when  he  says: 

^*  If  for  any  wish  thou  darest  not  pray, 
Then  pray  to  God  to  cast  that  wish  away." 

The  fourth  part  of  the  message  of  Jesus  con- 


PRAYER  45 

ceming  prayer  is  that  in  prayer  we  ask  in  faith 
and  fellowship  for  something  in  ^^  i^  pel- 

His  name.     "  If  ye  abide  in  me  lowship 

and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what 
ye  will  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you  "  (John 
15 :  7).  These  words  occur  in  the  "  vine  "  chap- 
ter of  John's  Gospel,  and  we  have  in  them  the 
relation  of  the  branch  to  the  vine.  Child-life 
is  one  thing,  and  branch-life  is  another.  The 
child  is  bom  and  then  grows  away  from  its 
mother.  Children  can  live  after  the  mother  dies, 
but  the  branch  is  dependent  every  moment  upon 
the  vine.  If  the  vine  dies,  the  branch  dies;  and 
the  branch  dies,  if  separated  from  the  vine.  Just 
as  the  branch  receives  its  vitality  all  the  time 
from  the  vine,  so  we  are  to  receive  our  life 
every  moment  from  God,  if  we  would  be  fruitful, 
for  this  abiding  in  Christ  refers  directly  to  the 
fruit-bearing  life.  The  verse  which  follows  says : 
"  Herein  is  my  Father  glorified  that  ye  bear 
much  fruit."  The  prayerful  life  is  the  fruitful 
life.  If  we  abide  in  Christ,  while  His  words 
abide  in  us,  it  will  be  easy  for  us  to  "  pray  with- 
out ceasing,"  for  the  life  of  Christ  in  us  gravi- 
tates toward  God. 

The  full  message  of  Jesus  concerning  prayer 


46  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

is  that  in  prayer  we  ask  in  faith  and  fellowship 
5.  In  God's  fo^  something  in  His  name,  that 
Glory  Qq^  j^ay  be  glorified.    "  Whatso- 

ever ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  that  will  I  do, 
that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son " 
(John  14 :  13).  James  therefore  gives  the  secret 
of  so  many  unanswered  prayers.  "  Ye  ask  and 
receive  not,  because  ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may 
consume  it  upon  your  desires."  God  does  not 
allow  us  to  abuse  prayer  by  making  it  a  means 
of  gratifying  the  self-life.  If  so,  it  would  be 
more  of  a  curse  than  a  blessing. 

The  week  night  devotional  meeting  in  which 
the  church  assembles  for  praise,  prayer,  and 
The  Prayer  testimony,  is  not  only  the  ther- 
Meeting  mometer  which  indicates  the  de- 

gree of  spirtual  life,  but  it  is  indispensable  for 
the  development  of  young  Christians,  and  the 
young  people's  meeting,  though  important, 
should  not  be  permitted  to  take  its  place.  The 
mingling  of  old  and  young  is  necessary  for  the 
ideal  devotional  meeting.  The  young  need  the 
ripe  experience  of  mature  Christians,  while  ma- 
ture Christians  need  to  keep  in  touch  with  the 
enthusiasm  and  inspiration  of  youth.  Young 
Christians  can  help  the  pastor  make  the  devo^ 


PRAYER  47 

tional  meeting  a  success,  and  we  are  persuaded 
that   many   pastors   are   more   concerned   about 
these  meetings  than  about  their  Sunday  sermons. 
Byron  wrote: 

"  Society  now  is  one  polished  horde, 
Formed  of  two  tribes,  the  bores  and  the 
bored." 

Sad  to  say,  these  lines  describe  too  many  of 
our  prayer  meetings.  The  pious  brethren  and 
sisters  go  to  them  expecting  to  be  bored,  but 
feeling  that,  for  the  sake  of  the  cause  and  the 
pastor,  it  is  their  duty  to  bear  this  cross. 

It  is  evident  that  the  Apostolic  prayer  meet- 
ing described  in  Acts  4 :  2S-30  was  brimful  of 
life.  "  Being  let  go  "  the  week  following,  not  one 
of  them  would  have  thought  it  a  cross  to  go  to 
such  a  prayer  meeting.  Now  what  was  the 
secret? 

1.  They  told  their  recent  experiences.  "  They 
reported  all  that  the  chief  priests  and  elders 
had  said  unto  them."  Some  good  Fresh  Tes- 
people  have  experiences  of  many  timomes 
years  which  they  delight  to  tell,  and  it  is  well  to 
tell  them,  but  not  too  often  to  the  same  company. 
After  they  have  been  told  about  three  times,  the 


48  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

people  know  them  by  heart,  but  God's  recent 
dealings  with  us  are  always  fresh,  and  the  young 
Christian  has  such  experiences.  The  Psalmist 
said,  "  Come  and  hear,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and 
I  will  declare  what  He  hath  done  for  my  soul." 
The  great  deliverance  from  sin  we  may  never 
cease  to  speak  of.  Paul's  story  of  his  experience 
on  the  way  to  Damascus  never  grew  old.  But 
God  does  more  for  us  than  deliver  us.  He  leads 
and  comforts  and  strengthens.  Of  these  recent 
experiences  let  us  not  be  slow  to  speak. 

2.  They  prayed.  Not  to  fill  up  the  time,  but 
because  they  had  something  to  pray  for.  Busy 
Earnest  with   their   Master's    work,    their 

Prayer  faithfulness  had  provoked  bitter 

persecution.  They  prayed  for  boldness  because 
they  felt  the  need  of  it.  They  were  more  solici- 
tous about  the  success  of  the  cause  they  loved 
than  about  their  own  safety  or  comfort.  They 
yearned  for  power  to  heal  and  do  wonders  "  by 
the  name  of  thy  holy  child  Jesus."  Their  desires 
were  not  self -centered.  The  burden  of  souls  was 
upon  them. 

Many  of  our  prayer  meetings  die  for  the  want 
of  an  object.  Pastor  and  people  have  met 
simply  because  it  is  customary  to  meet  once  a 


PRAYER  49 

week.  "  The  signs  and  wonders  "  of  conversion 
are  among  the  things  of  the  past. 

The  brethren  thank  the  Lord  for  the  privilege 
of  meeting  "  where  prayer  Is  wont  to  be  made," 
when,  If  the  bare  truth  were  told,  they  would  be 
just  as  thankful  for  the  privilege  of  staying 
at  home.  They  ask  of  God  that  "  all  things 
may  be  done  with  an  eye  single  to  His  glory," 
and  It  would  take  a  microscope  to  see  really  what 
is  being  done  to  glorify  Him.  How  different 
our  prayer  meetings  when  the  joy  of  salvation 
fills  every  heart,  and  the  cry  for  saving  power  Is 
as  the  voice  of  one  man.  The  songs,  talks,  and 
prayers  then  have  life,  and  "  being  let  go  "  peo- 
ple are  anxious  to  be  in  such  company. 

Too  many  church  members  fancy  that  they 
belong  to  an  Institution  whose  duty  it  is  to  give 
them  social  and  Intellectual  enjoyment,  and  to 
benefit  them;  whereas  the  idea  of  Christ,  when 
He  founded  the  church,  was  to  make  it  a  channel 
of  blessing  to  others.  It  receives  only  as  It  gives. 
"  To  minister,  not  to  be  ministered  unto  "  is  the 
genius  of  Christianity.  Could  we  infuse  that 
thought  into  our  prayer  meetings,  we  should 
save  them  from  llfelessness.  To  pray  for  others 
and  for  ourselves  that  we  may  help  others;  to 


50  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

talk  for  the  comfort  of  others,  to  live  for  others 

—  a  body  of  men  and  women  met  with  such  an 

object  in  view  cannot  have  a  dull  time. 

Though  these  Apostles   were  so  earnest  and 

wanted  so  much,  their  prayers  were  not  long. 

_        .  .  The  one  reported  can  be  repeated 

Be  Brief  .  ^  .  ^ 

m  half   a  minute.      Prayers   are 

short  in  proportion  to  their  earnestness.  Men 
are  not  wordy  when  they  feel  a  pressing  need. 
"  Lord,  save,  I  perish,"  cried  sinking  Peter. 
"  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me : 
my  daughter  is  grievously  vexed  with  a  devil," 
was  a  mother's  earnest  prayer,  while  the  publi- 
can poured  out  his  penitent  soul  into  one  short 
sentence. 

"  Bless  mamma,  and  papa,  and  John,  and 
Mary,  and  James  and  everybody,"  prayed  a  little 
boy  at  his  mother's  knee.  "  If  you  had  said 
'  everybody '  first,"  said  the  younger  brother 
James,  "  you  need  not  have  made  such  a  long 
prayer."  And  we  agree  with  James  sometimes, 
when  a  good  brother  closes  a  ten  minutes'  prayer 
with  the  petition,  "  Lord,  if  we  have  failed  to 
ask,  fail  not  thou  to  give."  If  he  had  said  that 
about  ten  minutes  sooner,  he  might  have  saved 
the  life  of  a  good  prayer  meeting.     God  would 


PRAYER  61 

have  us  to  be  definite  in  our  praying,  but  definite- 
ness  does  not  demand  length. 

And  prayer  is  more  than  begging.  Praise 
should  always  mingle  with  petition,  for  God  an- 
swers praise.  Many  prayers  are  powerless,  be- 
cause they  do  not  praise  God  for  what  He  has 
already  done.  Our  Father  expects  at  least  a 
"  thank  you  "  from  His  children  for  gifts  al- 
ready bestowed  before  He  lavishes  others.  "  Gim- 
me a  cent,"  said  an  urchin  on  a  street  in  New 
York.  The  gentleman  to  whom  he  spoke  gave 
him  a  cent.  "  Gimme  'nuther,"  was  the  quick 
response,  and  the  gentleman  wished  that  he  had 
not  given  a  cent  to  the  ungrateful  little  beggar. 
"  Give,  give,  give,"  we  say,  while  God  waits  for 
some  recognition  of  the  gifts  already  bestowed. 
"  In  everything  by  prayer  and  supplication,  with 
thanksgiving,  let  your  bequests  be  made  known 
unto  God"  (Phih  4:6). 

But  we  are  not  called  upon  to  thank  God  for 
everything  every  time  we  pray.  In  private  de- 
votions let  us  pray  and  praise  as  long  as  we 
wish,  but  in  public  prayer  be  brief,  and  the  in- 
terest of  the  meeting  wiU  not  suffer. 

3.  Scripture  was  freely  quoted.  The  second 
Psalm  expressed  their  feelings.    A  religious  meet- 


52  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

mg  where  God's  Word  is  not  honored  will  be 
Quote  Scrip-  ^  failure.  "  Did  you  have  a  bless- 
*"r®  ing  to-night?  "  asked  a  wife  of 

her  husband  on  his  return  from  church.  "  No," 
was  the  curt  reply,  "  there  was  nothing  there 
for  God  to  bless;  not  a  sentence  of  the  Word 
was  in  sermon  or  prayer."  If  all  young  Chris- 
tians would  be  careful  to  come  to  the  prayer 
meeting  with  a  text  of  Scripture  and  give  it 
with  or  without  comment,  the  interest  and  power 
of  our  meetings  would  be  multiplied.  Speak  to 
God  in  prayer;  let  God  speak  to  you  through 
His  Word,  and  blessing  will  follow,  as  we  see 
it  followed  this  Apostolic  prayer  meeting. 


CHAPTER  V 


TEMPTATION 


Standing  by  a  river  and  watching  the  water 
near  the  shore  we  may  think  that  it  is  flowing 
up  stream,  but  looking  out  to  the  center  we  see 
that  the  current  is  in  the  right  direction.  The 
eddies  near  the  shore  have  deceived  us.  So  with 
good  men.  The  current  of  their  lives  is  all  right, 
but  looking  at  only  a  part  of  their  characters 
we  may  sometimes  think  that  they  are  all  wrong. 
Abraham  was  a  good  man  with  the  current  of 
his  life  toward  heaven,  but  he  sinned,  and  if 
Abraham,  "  the  father  of  the  faithful "  and 
"  the  friend  of  God  "  was  led  by  insidious  temp- 
tation into  sin,  we  are  all  in  danger.  A  study  of 
Abraham's  temptation  and  sin,  as  recorded  in 
Genesis  12:10-20,  will,  I  hope,  put  us  on  our 
guard  and  make  us  strong  to  overcome. 

It  is  evident  that  Abraham's  sin  grew  out  of 
some  roots  that  were  in  his  character  at  first. 

Abraham  was  afraid  that  he  would  lose  some- 

53 


54  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

thing.  It  is  evident  that  he  did  not  ask  God 
if  he  might  go  down  into  Egypt. 
The  famine  was  sore  in  the 
land;  there  was  danger  that  the  people  should 
be  in  want.  Abraham  was  rich.  He  could  pre- 
serve his  property  as  well  as  his  life  by  going 
down  into  the  land  of  plenty.  He  was  led  by 
his  self-interest.  He  might  have  done  good  in 
Canaan  and  won  some  people  to  his  faith,  if,  like 
John  Clough  in  Telugu,  he  had  remained  and 
shared  with  them  his  plenty ;  but  not  he.  With- 
out consulting  the  Lord  he  decided  that  the  best 
thing  to  do  was  to  leave  the  place  of  famine  and 
go  to  the  place  of  safety. 

We  are  in  danger  of  being  led  by  our  interests 
rather  than  by  the  Lord.  Christ  was  thus  tempt- 
ed. He  was  hungry  and  the  tempter  suggested 
that  He  make  stones  into  bread.  But  Jesus  re- 
pelled the  tempter.  He  chose  hunger  rather 
than  obedience  to  Satan.  "  But  we  must  live." 
"  Not  so,"  said  the  martyrs.  If  John  Huss  had 
acted  upon  the  principle  which  the  Devil  an- 
nounced to  Job,  "  All  that  a  man  hath  will  he 
give  for  his  life,"  he  would  never  have  been 
burned  at  Constance.  His  friends  tried  to  per- 
suade him  that,  under  the  circumstances,  it  was 


TEMPTATION  55 

necessary  that  he  should  modify  his  views.  But 
Huss  stood  for  the  truth.  There  never  could 
have  been  martyrs,  if  they  had  accepted  the  prin- 
ciple that  they  ought  to  be  led  by  their  worldly 
interests  rather  than  by  the  Lord.  They  chose 
deliberately  to  sacrifice  their  bodies  to  their  prin- 
ciples. Abraham  was  led  into  this  temptation  by 
selfishness.  He  was  immature  in  his  faith;  had 
just  come  out  of  paganism,  and  this  fact  may  be 
something  of  an  excuse  for  him ;  but  all  the 
same  he  ought  to  have  consulted  God,  and  we 
believed  that  if  he  had,  he  would  have  been  led 
to  stay  in  Canaan,  and  do  what  he  could  for  the 
starving  people. 

Prudence  is  not  among  the  graces  of  the 
Spirit.  There  is  a  holy  recklessness,  a  spirit  that 
does  the  will  of  God,  let  the  result 
be  what  it  may.  It  was  very 
prudent  in  Abraham  to  agree  with  his  wife  to  lie, 
that  he  might  protect  himself,  but  it  was  not 
true  nor  honorable ;  and,  when  we  make  prudence 
our  guide,  it  is  very  difficult  to  be  true.  Care- 
lessness as  to  results,  when  we  are  doing  right, 
is  a  virtue  to  be  coveted. 

Abraham,  it  seems,  was  afraid  to  die  for  the 
truth.     He  preferred  the  sin  of  lying,  even,  to 


56  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

the  danger  of  being  killed.  And  he  tempted 
Sarah.  We  blame  Eve  for  tempt- 
ing Adam,  but  in  this  case  the 
woman  was  not  the  transgressor.  Sarah  obeyed 
her  lord,  and  remained  true  to  him.  She  might 
have  remonstrated  against  his  sin ;  but  she  did 
not.  Selfishness  and  prudence  are  the  parents 
of  cowardice.  When  a  man  wants  to  save  his 
own  skin  at  whatever  cost,  his  prudence  will 
suggest  that  he  may  commit  sin  in  order  to  do 
it.  Abraham  at  this  juncture  was  a  moral  cow- 
ard. He  showed  afterwards  that  he  was  phys- 
ically brave.  He  knew  how  to  organize  an  army 
and  make  conquest,  but  here  he  fell  before  the 
possibility  of  being  killed  for  his  wife.  There 
are  men  who  can  rush  into  the  cannon's  mouth 
without  a  tremor,  but  quail  before  their  moral 
enemies.  They  are  strong  in  the  excitement  of 
the  rush  of  battle,  but  in  the  quiet  of  their  lives, 
when  sin  comes  in  subtle  form,  they  are  not 
heroic  enough  to  resist  it.  Better  for  Abraham 
to  have  boldly  died  than  to  have  ignominiously 
lied. 

Sarah  was  the  half-sister  of  Abraham,  and  he 
told  a  half-truth  which  was  to  Pharaoh  a  whole 
lie.     It  was  the  truth  with  a  mental  reserva- 


TEMPTATION  57 

tion.  He  acted  a  double  part,  and  such  sm 
is  very  common.  When  a  man 
wishes  to  make  a  trade  he  is 
tempted  to  tell  the  favorable  things  and  to  keep 
back  the  unfavorable.  On  Wall  Street  thou- 
sands of  lies  are  told  daily  just  because  iti 
would  be  against  the  selfish  interests  of  men  to 
tell  the  whole  truth.  It  may  be  that  no  out- 
right lie  is  told;  what  is  said  may  be  true,  but 
it  is  not  all  the  truth,  and  is  therefore  prac- 
tically a  lie.  It  is  possible  to  utter  the  vilest 
slander  without  telling  an  outright  falsehood. 
The  slanderer  simply  tells  a  part  of  the  truth; 
the  part  that  is  damaging,  while  the  whole 
truth  would  change  the  moral  phase  of  the 
case  entirely.  Abraham  did  not  speak  as  be- 
fore God;  he  spoke  as  before  Pharaoh.  To 
Pharaoh  he  was  the  brother  of  Sarah;  to  God 
he  was  half-brother  and  husband.  God  is  our 
umpire  of  right  and  wrong,  and  a  thing  is  bad 
or  good,  lie  or  truth,  just  as  it  appears  to  God. 
All  through  the  New  Testament  we  are  urged 
to  live  as  before  God,  and  the  man  who  does  that 
will  never  be  a  hypocrite. 

Let  us  now  draw  some  lessons  from  this  sin 
of  the  "  father  of  the  faithful." 


58    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

1.  We  may  make  our  greatest  blessings  oc- 
casions of  sin.  It  was  something  for  Abraham 
Occasions  ^^  have  a  wife  like  Sarah.     She 

of  Sin  ^^g  jjgij   forth  by  Peter  as  the 

model  woman,  "  whose  daughters  ye  are,  as  long 
as  ye  do  well  "  (I  Pet.  3:6).  Beautiful,  indus- 
trious, faithful,  she  was  such  a  woman  as  a  hus- 
band might  well  be  proud  of.  It  was  her  beauty, 
so  greatly  prized  by  Abraham,  which  led  him 
into  sin.  If  she  had  been  ugly  and  deformed, 
he  would  not  have  thought  of  acting  the  double 
part.  And  so  the  very  blessings  of  life  we  may 
turn  into  curses  through  our  selfishness,  pru- 
dence, cowardice  and  diplomacy.  We  have 
known  a  parent  led  away  from  church  by  a 
beautiful  daughter.  He  wished  to  please  her; 
he  began  to  live  for  her ;  every  whim  of  hers 
he  would  gratify.  Her  beauty  was  his  pride, 
her  intelligence  his  joy.  And  these  things  that 
were  indeed  blessings  he  allowed  to  be  occasions 
of  temptation.  Instead  of  seeking  to  consecrate 
her  beauty  and  intelligence  to  the  Lord,  he  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  led  off  by  her  into  the  world. 
And  so  a  man's  wealth,  a  real  blessing  if  properly 
used,  may  become  occasion  for  sin.  In  order 
to  hold   it   or   increase  it,   he   yields   to   selfish 


TEMPTATION  59 

prudence ;  becomes  a  moral  coward,  and,  It  may 
be,  practices  deception.  How  careful  we  should 
be  to  make  the  blessings  of  God  really  bless  us, 
and  in  order  that  we  may  do  so,  we  must  live 
as  before  God,  doing  His  will,  and  more  anxious 
to  have  His  smile  than  to  keep  any  temporal 
blessings. 

2.  God  takes  the  part  of  His  sinning  child. 
He  plagued  Pharaoh.  His  very  silence  and  ten- 
der dealings  were  a  rebuke  to  Gocfs  Sin- 
Abraham.  God  never  condones  or  ^^^S  Child 
excuses  sin.  He  forgives  the  penitent,  but  sin, 
whether  in  His  children  or  others,  grieves  Him. 
However,  He  did  not  cast  off  Abraham  because 
of  his  sin.  He  knew  that  the  current  of  His 
child's  life  was  right,  and  He  would  take  time  to 
correct  the  eddies.  We  had  the  pain  of  being 
present  at  the  hanging  of  three  criminals.  The 
public  was  very  Indignant  against  them,  cursing 
them  for  their  crimes,  but  there  was  one  old 
woman  In  the  vast  crowd  who  had  nothing 
but  blessing  in  her  heart  for  one  of  them. 
It  was  her  son,  and  the  more  the  crowd  cursed, 
the  more  she  loved.  "  Like  as  a  father  pitieth 
his  children,  so  the  Lord  pities  them  that  fear 
Him."     He  corrects  them;  He  chastises  them; 


60  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

He  teaches  them  better,  but  He  never  forsakes 
them. 

3.  It  is  better  to  be  a  weak,  struggling  child 
of  God  than  a  strong  son  of  Satan.  Look  at 
Which  is  th^  contrast  between  Pharaoh  and 

Better?  Abraham  at  the  time  of  this  sin 

and  afterwards.  Pharaoh  impresses  one  as  being 
the  nobler  of  the  two.  As  soon  as  he  learns  that 
Sarah  is  the  wife  of  Abraham,  he  rebukes  him 
for  his  sin,  and  returns  to  him  his  own.  He  does 
not  even  punish  him  for  his  double  dealing.  The 
selfishness,  cowardice,  and  hypocrisy  of  Abra- 
ham were  in  sad  contrast  with  the  fairness,  open- 
ness, and  generosity  of  Pharaoh.  But  we  must 
follow  the  two  men  to  the  end  of  their  lives,  in 
order  to  decide  which  one  we  would  rather  be. 
Where  is  Pharaoh  to-day?  He  lived  his  life  of 
sensuality,  seeking  earthly  glory,  with  thousands 
of  slaves  to  do  his  bidding.  He  died  and  was 
forgotten.  His  impress  upon  the  world  was  al- 
most nothing.  On  the  other  hand,  Abraham, 
linked  by  faith  with  God,  overcomes  his  sinful 
tendencies,  and  becomes  a  real  saint,  ripens  for 
glory,  and  impresses  the  world  with  his  character, 
so  that  no  name  is  now  more  highly  esteemed  by 
millions  of  people.    He  became  father  in  the  flesh 


TEMPTATION  61 

of  the  Jews,  and,  in  the  spirit,  of  Christians.  It 
is  better,  however  weakly,  selfishly  and  cowardly 
you  may  be,  to  put  yourself  on  the  side  of  faith, 
righteousness,  and  virtue,  and  to  let  God  mould 
you  as  He  would  have  you,  than  to  get  the  very 
best  the  world  can  give,  living  a  life  of  inde- 
pendence and  yet  of  degeneracy.  Better  be  weak 
Abraham  with  the  strength  of  God  girdling  you 
than  strong  Pharaoh  left  to  himself. 

The  difference  between  Abraham  and  Pharaoh 
is  illustrated  by  the  difference  between  the  Belle- 
vue  Hospital  in  New  York  and  a  hospital  in 
Washington.  At  Bellevue  the  object  is  to  cure 
disease ;  in  Washington  it  is  to  cultivate  disease. 
The  physicians  in  Bellevue  deal  with  men  and 
strive  to  make  them  well.  The  officials  in  Wash- 
ington deal  with  plants  and  strive  to  make  them 
sick,  so  that  they  may  understand  and  describe 
their  diseases.  Abraham  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  great  Physician  who  had  undertaken  his  cure. 
Pharaoh  was  in  surroundings  that  cultivated  the 
diseases  of  his  soul,  and  the  result  was  that  he 
never  grew  any  better. 

In  Bellevue  Hospital  there  is  a  ward  for  pris- 
oners. When  a  criminal  in  the  Tombs  becomes 
sick,  he  is  sent  there  to  be  treated.     In  order 


62    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

to  deliver  him,  you  must  not  only  cure  his  dis- 
ease, but  break  the  bars  that  surround  his  cell. 
He  is  out  of  relation  with  the  State  and  with  the 
forces  of  life  that  make  for  health.  Abraham 
was,  to  be  sure,  a  patient  in  a  ward,  but  he  was 
not  surrounded  by  bars.  He  had  been  made  free 
through  the  grace  of  God.  Pharaoh,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  sick  and  a  slave.  He  was  in 
the  hospital  where  diseases  were  promoted,  sur- 
rounded at  the  same  time  by  iron  bars  of  sin. 
God's  children,  who  have  been  made  free  through 
the  blood  of  Christ,  are  not  incarcerated  by  the 
powers  of  sin.  Let  us  seek  the  liberty  and  the 
healing  of  Abraham,  while  we  shun  the  diseases 
and  bondage  of  Pharaoh.  Our  God  is  able  not 
only  to  cure  the  diseases  of  sin,  but  to  keep 
us  free.  "  Thanks  be  to  God  which  giveth  us 
the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 


♦ 


CHAPTER  VI 

MONEY 

Money  is  one  of  our  best  friends  and  worst 
enemies.  The  love  of  it  is  the  root  of  all  evil; 
the  use  of  it  the  root  of  all  good.  The  mere 
possession  of  money  is  no  index  to  character. 
Some  men  are  rich,  like  Abraham  and  Job,  be- 
cause they  are  industrious  and  honest.  Their 
credit  makes  it  easy  for  them  to  acquire  wealth. 
Others  are  poor,  like  Moses  and  Elijah,  Peter 
and  Paul,  Moody  and  Spurgeon,  because  their 
mission  in  the  world  is  other  than  making  money. 
Their  poverty  is  an  index  to  their  faithfulness. 
For  them  to  have  turned  aside  to  money-making 
would  have  been  to  disobey  God. 

Other  men  are  rich  because  they  are  dishonest. 
They  have  wrecked  corporations,  or  cornered  the 
food  market,  that  they  might  fill  their  coffers. 
Other  men  are  poor,  again,  because  they  refuse 
to  adopt  the  tricks  of  trade,  or  to  enter  into  con- 
spiracies to  defraud.     They  chose  to  lose  money 

63 


64  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

that  they  may  save  themselves.  They  have  come 
to  their  poverty  honestly.  The  poverty  of 
others,  however,  is  an  index  to  shiftlessness,  or 
dishonesty.  They  are  poor,  because  they  refuse 
to  work,  or  have  lost  their  credit  by  dishonest 
dealing. 

If,  therefore,  you  can  learn  how  a  man  has 
gained  his  wealth  or  his  poverty,  and  then  how 
he  uses  it,  you  have  gained  the  index  to  his 
character.  If  one  owns  money,  he  commands  a 
mighty  force  for  Christ  and  the  church,  but  if 
money  owns  him,  he  is  the  slave  of  a  heartless 
master.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  the  manly 
qualities  which  have  been  developed  by  honest 
struggles  in  poverty,  he  is  rich  and  powerful 
without  money. 

It  is  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  God,  in 
speaking  to  men  through  an  inspired  Book, 
Stewards  of  should  have  something  to  say 
Capacity  about  money.     And  the  message 

of  the  Bible  is  very  definite.  It  says  to  every 
man  of  wealth :  "  You  owe  to  God  the  capacity 
to  make  money."  We  read  in  I  Samuel  2:7: 
"  The  Lord  maketh  poor  and  maketh  rich." 
And  His  method  of  enriching  is  given  in  Deut. 
8:18:     "Thou  shalt  remember  the  Lord  thy 


MONEY  65 

God,  for  it  is  He  that  giveth  power  to  get 
wealth."  It  is  plain  from  this  scripture  that  the 
talent  for  making  money  is  the  gift  of  God, 
to  be  used,  like  other  gifts,  for  His  glory :  and 
making  money  for  God's  glory  is  as  holy  as 
praying.  We  need  to  hear,  not  less  about  the 
"  sacred  desk  "  but  more  about  the  sacred  ledger, 
the  sacred  shop,  the  sacred  store.  Let  us  not 
pull  the  sacred  down  to  the  level  of  the  secular, 
but  lift  the  secular  up  to  the  plane  of  the  sacred. 
Efface  the  distinction  between  sacred  and  secular 
by  making  everything  sacred.  Make  money  as 
religiously  as  you  pray. 

The  Bible  says  again  to  the  man  who  makes 
money :  "  Keep  this  capacity  for  making  money 
within  the  limits  of  honesty  and  Honesty- 

love. "      Competition   means   war,  ^""  l-ove 

and  the  ethics  of  war  is  so  low  that  deception  is 
a  virtue.  Military  men  call  it  strateg}'^ ;  politi- 
cians call  it  diplomacy,  but  the  English  of  it  is 
lying.  An  officer  who  succeeds  in  deceiving  an 
enemy  and  luring  him  into  a  trap,  which  causes 
his  capture  or  death,  is  praised  and  promoted. 
A  Russian  general  said  "  I  can  die  for  my  Czar, 
and,  of  course,  I  can  lie  for  him."  International 
diplomacy  has  become  such  a  science  of  deception 


66    YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

that  Bismark  advised  young  diplomats  to  tell 
the  truth  on  all  occasions,  because  no  one  would 
believe  them. 

The  ethics  of  the  battlefield  and  the  political 
arena  has  been  transferred  to  trade,  so  that 
A  Life  many  men  of  business  do  not  hesi- 

a  Living  tate  to  deceive  in  order  to  make 

larger  profits.  A  man  in  an  inquiry  meeting 
declared  that  he  could  not  be  a  Christian  and  do 
what  he  intended  to  do  next  wek.  His  profits 
depended  upon  labeling  second-class  goods  as 
first-class.  Such  a  man  may  make  a  living,  but 
he  cannot  make  a  life.  He  builds  up  a  fortune, 
while  he  tears  down  his  character.  The  blood 
of  his  own  soul  is  upon  every  dollar  of  his 
profits.  He  floats  his  business  while  he  drowns 
his  soul,  for  "  They  that  will  be  rich  fall  into 
temptation  and  a  snare,  and  into  many  foolish 
and  hurtful  lusts  that  drown  men  in  destruction 
and  perdition."  His  standard  of  ethics  is  profit 
and  loss.  Whatever  pays  is  right;  whatever 
loses  is  wrong.  He  is  a  moral  suicide.  God's 
standard  is  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the 
Golden  Rule.  The  business  man  who  adopts  this 
standard  is  rich  without  money,  while  he  who 
rejects  it  is  a  pauper  with  his  millions,  for  "  a 


MONEY  67 

man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth." 

The  Bible  also  says  to  the  money-maker.  "  Use 
your  money  in  doing  good."    "  Charge  them  that 

are  rich  in  this  world  that  they  _     _ 

1  11  1         1         •  1     •  ^o  Good 

do   good;    that   they   be   rich   in 

good  works."  The  method  of  doing  good  is 
defined  by  the  word  "  ready  to  distribute,  will- 
ing to  communicate."  *'  Remember  the  words 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  He  said.  It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  (Acts  20  :  35). 
To  get  and  hold  is  to  become  an  octopus,  with 
tentacles  that  take  in,  but  never  give  off.  It  is 
to  become  a  Dead  Sea,  with  no  fish  in  its  waters, 
an  ugly  blot  on  the  landscape,  the  octopus  of 
geography.  To  give  as  we  have  received  is  to 
become  a  Sea  of  Galilee,  with  pure  water  full  of 
life,  a  gem  of  beauty.  Giving  is  a  cleansing 
process.  "  Give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye 
have,  and  behold  all  things  are  clean  unto  you." 
(Luke  11:41).  Wealth,  however  acquired,  be- 
comes foul  with  selfishness,  if  no  portion  of  it  is 
used  in  doing  good.  More  impure  than  the 
sewers  of  the  city  is  the  hoarded  wealth  of  the 
misers  who  simply  pile  up  riches  and  stand 
guard  over  the  pile.     It  putrifies  and  fills  the 


68  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

atmosphere  with  the  miasma  of  meanness.  To 
such  men  the  message  of  the  Bible  is :  "  Go  to 
now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  howl  for  your  mis- 
eries that  shall  come  upon  you.  Your  riches 
are  corrupted,  and  your  garments  are  moth 
eaten.  Your  gold  and  your  silver  is  cankered; 
and  the  rust  of  them  shall  be  a  witness  against 
you,  and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  it  were  with 
fire."      (James  5:13). 

If  money  has  been  accumulated  by  defraud- 
ing the  hireling,  one  needs  to  read  further: 
Nobility  of  ''  Behold  the  hire  of  the  laborers 

Motive  ^]^Q  have  reaped  down  your  fields, 

which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth,  and 
the  cries  of  them  which  have  reaped  are  entered 
into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  "  (James 
5:4).  Such  is  the  experience  of  those  who 
make  and  hoard  money  simply  for  the  sake  of 
hoarding.  Let  every  money-maker  ask  the 
question :  "  What  is  my  motive  in  making 
money  ?  "  Has  it  become  a  great  game  ?  Is  it 
simply  war  or  play?  Do  I  wish  to  make  money 
just  as  a  football  team  wishes  to  win  by  making 
a  higher  score  .^^  Is  my  motive  simply  to  excel, 
and  that  people  may  say  that  I  own  more 
money    than    others.'*     If    so,    my    picture    is 


MONEY  69 

drawn  for  me  by  John  Ruskin  in  the  follow- 
ing words: 

"  The  first  of  all  English  games  is  making 
money.  That  is  an  all-absorbing  game,  and  we 
knock  each  other  oftener  in  playing  that  than 
in  football,  or  in  rougher  sport.  And  it  is  ab- 
solutely without  purpose.  No  one  who  engages 
in  that  game  ever  knows  why.  Ask  a  great 
money-maker  what  he  intends  to  do  with  his 
money.  He  never  knows ;  he  does  not  make  it 
to  do  anything  with  it ;  he  gets  it  only  that  he 
may  get  it.  "  What  will  you  make  of  what  you 
have  got  ^  "  you  ask.  "  Well,  I  will  get  more," 
he  says,  just  as  at  cricket,  you  get  more  runs. 
There  is  no  use  in  the  runs,  but  to  get  more 
than  other  people  is  the  game;  and  there  is  no 
use  in  the  money,  but  to  have  more  of  it  than 
other  people  is  the  game." 

Such  money-making  without  motive,  or  with 
low  motive,  cannot  make  manhood.  It  simply 
develops  meanness.  I  have  read  of  a  Scotch  laird 
who  compelled  his  servant  to  pay  him  a  shilling 
a  week  for  working  in  his  own  garden,  that  he 
might  enjoy  with  the  recreation  the  pleasure  of 
accumulating.  A  man  who  had  heaped  up  a 
large  fortune,  it  is  said,  while  on  his  death  bed 
gave  a  thousand  pounds  to  a  benevolent  object. 


70  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

While  the  committee  were  drawing  the  papers, 
the  dying  miser  said,  "  Gentlemen,  will  you  not 
allow  me  ten  per  cent  for  cash  payment?  "  They 
agreed,  and  the  miser  died,  pleased  with  the 
thought  that  he  had  made  a  hundred  pounds  by 
a  sharp  bargain. 

These  may  be  extreme  cases  of  meanness,  but 
making  money  for  the  sake  of  making  money 
is  apt  to  result,  sooner  or  later,  in  just  such  a 
character. 

The  final  and  most  emphatic  message  of  Jesus 
is  Make  your  money  immortal.  "  Lay  up  for 
Making  yourselves   treasures    in    heaven." 

Immortal  "  Make  to  yourselves  friends  by 

means  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  that 
when  it  shall  fail,  they  may  receive  you  into 
eternal  tabernacles."  Rich  men  are  exhorted  to 
lay  up  for  themselves  a  good  foundation  against 
the  time  to  come,  that  they  may  lay  hold  upon 
the  life  which  is  life  indeed.  While  God  gives 
us  all  things  richly  to  enjoy  in  this  world,  He 
would  have  us  cultivate  "  other  worldliness." 
Seek  to  transmute  your  money  which  is  seen  and 
temporal  into  character  which  is  unseen  and 
eternal. 

How  can  this  be  done  most  effectively.?     How 


MONEY  71 

shall  I  give  my  money  so  that  I  shall  be  most 
richly  blessed,  and  be  the  greatest  How  to 

blessing  to  others?     The  answer  ^^^® 

is  simple.  Give  Scripturally.  Learn  what  the 
Bible  teaches  on  this  subject  and  do  that.  In 
Luke  11 :  42,  Jesus  said,  "  Ye  tithe  mint  and 
rue  and  all  manner  of  herbs,  and  pass  over 
judgment  and  the  love  of  God:  these  ought  ye 
to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone." 
"  These  ought  ye  to  have  done "  is  Christ's 
endorsement  of  the  principle  of  tithing,  and  the 
Christian  can  have  no  higher  authority.  The 
Mosaic  law  demanded  that  one  seventh  of  the 
time  and  one  tenth  of  the  income  should  be  de- 
voted to  the  Lord ;  and  the  gospel  never  falls 
short  of  the  law  in  its  requirements,  but  rather 
goes  beyond  it.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  re- 
veals that  the  gospel  demands  of  the  Christian 
more  than  the  law.  The  law  says  "  Thou  shalt 
not  kill,"  but  the  gospel  says,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
hate,"  etc.,  etc. 

One  tenth  is  the  minimum,  while  we  should 
give  in  freewill  offerings  as  much  more  as  grati- 
tude may  prompt.  Let  every  young  convert 
begin  his  Christian  life  by  adopting  this  biblical 
method  of  laying  aside  one  tenth  of  his  income 


72  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

to  be  used  in  other  ways  than  in  support  of  him- 
self and  family.  Do  this  every  week  as  far  as 
possible.  "  On  the  first  day  of  the  week,  let 
every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store  as  God 
hath  prospered  him"  (I  Cor.  16:2).  Remem- 
ber that  Jesus  stood  over  against  the  treasury 
and  watched  how  they  gave,  and  He  still  watches 
how  rather  than  how  much  we  give.  The  widow 
gave  with  the  spirit  of  loving  sacrifice,  and  this 
manner  of  giving  counted  for  more  with  Christ 
than  the  abundance  of  the  wealthy.  Her  two 
mites  were  really  more  than  their  larger  gifts, 
because  they  meant  more  self-sacrifice.  Indeed, 
Christ  seems  to  take  no  account  of  the  amount, 
but  records  only  the  loving  sacrifice  we  make 
in  giving.  Such  giving  is  an  act  of  worship  in 
which  we  express  to  God  our  gratitude  and 
praise. 

John  Wesley's  motto  was,  "  Make  all  you  can ; 
save  all  you  can ;  give  all  you  can."  If  you  make 
and  save  with  a  view  to  giving,  your  labor  is  as 
religious  as  your  prayers.  "  What  are  you  do- 
ing this  morning.''  "  asked  a  neighbor  as  he  en- 
tered a  blacksmith  shop,  while  the  smithy  was 
striking  the  hot  iron  on  the  anvil.  "  Preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  regions  beyond,"  was  the  reply, 


MONEY  73 

as  he  struck  the  iron  a  little  harder,  and  made 
the  sparks  fly  further.  And  the  labor  of  this 
humble  man  was  transfigured  by  the  glory  of  a 
high  and  holy  motive. 


CHAPTER  VII 


AMUSEMENTS 


The  things  which  amuse  us  do  much  toward 
moulding  our  characters  for  good  or  evil.  It  Is, 
therefore,  needful  that  the  young  Christian 
should  be  as  careful  about  his  amusements  as 
his  duties.  There  are  certain  principles  by  which 
he  may  be  guided. 

Amusements  that  Injure  the  body,  weaken  the 
mind,  or  corrupt  the  morals  ought  to  he  avoided. 

_  So  with  amusements  that  vitiate 

A  Test  '  rT^^  ^  i 

our  joys.  The  German  proverb 
says,  "  The  good  is  enemy  of  the  better  and  the 
best."  Amusement,  fun,  and  pleasure  may  be 
good;  but  joy  Is  better.  Amusement  is  the  dash 
of  the  spray,  the  sparkle  on  the  surface;  joy 
Is  the  flow  of  the  deep  current  in  the  soul.  We 
should  not  sacrifice  the  current  for  the  spray  or 
the  sparkle.  Whenever,  therefore,  we  find  that 
amusement   is   entrenching   upon   our   joy,   we 

74 


AMUSEMENTS  75 

should   sacrifice   amusement,   that   joj   may    be 
saved. 

Amusements  should  always  be  avoided  when 
they  are  associated  with  any  great  evil  institu- 
tion.     The  people  of  Israel  played  before  the 
golden  calf.     Their  play  was  associated  with  the 
evil  institution  of  idolatry.     Paul  said  that  he 
could  eat  meat  offered  to  idols,  for  he  regarded 
an  idol  as  nothing,  and  it  would  not,  therefore, 
injure  him.     He  had  a  right  to  eat,  but  he  had 
the  higher  right  which  was  the  right  to  give  up 
his  personal  right  for  the  good  of  the  weaker 
brother.     He  therefore  determined  to  surrender 
this  right  and  exercise  the  higher  right  of  self- 
denial  for  the  benefit  of  others.     Two  men  were 
in  a  boat  above  Niagara  Falls.     When  they  saw 
that  the  current  was  taking  them  down,  by  a  bold 
stroke  they  reached  the  bank,  and  there  on  a  tree 
was    the    placard,    "No    trespassing    on    these 
grounds."    A  farmer  appeared  with  a  fierce  bull 
dog  at  his  side,  and  one  of  the  men  was  cruelly 
torn.      The  magistrate   at   Niagara  used  these 
words  which  are  worthy  of  a  place  on  the  fly 
leaf  of  your  Bible :  "  You  had  a  right,  sir,  to 
placard  your  land,  but  in  this  case  there  was  in- 
volved the  higher  right  to  surrender  your  right 


76  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

for  the  good  of  humanity,  and,  because  you 
failed  to  do  so,  I  send  you  to  jail  for  thirty 
days."  We  may  contend  for  the  Christian  privi- 
lege of  Indulging  in  certain  things,  while  we 
forget  the  higher  privilege  of  self-denial  that 
we  may  have  a  larger  influence  for  good. 

A  safe  rule  for  the  young  convert  is  never  to 
indulge  In  any  amusement  that  links  him  with  a 
great  evil  institution.  Try  the 
^^^^^^"^^  cTrd  table,  the  dance,  anJ  the 
theatre  by  this  test.  The  card  table  Is  a  world- 
wide evil  institution  which  you  find  in  all  coun- 
tries, Christian  and  pagan.  It  is  the  gambler's 
instrument.  It  has  been  blackened  by  dishonesty, 
stained  by  murder,  and  disgraced  by  innumer- 
able wrecks  of  character.  A  pack  of  cards  is 
suggestive,  not  of  an  Innocent  game,  but  of  a 
great  foul  Institution  which  has  been  a  curse  to 
mankind.  Shall  I  Indulge,  and  thus  link  myself 
with  this  institution.?  Or  shall  I  deny  myself, 
that  I  may  not  be  suggestive  of  evil? 

The    square    dance    may    be    considered    by 

some   as   an   innocent   pastime,    if   indulged   in 

moderately,  but  in  general  it  may 

be  said  that  dancing  has  become 

a   world-wide   institution   of   evil.      The   dance- 


AMUSEMENTS  77 

house    cannot    be    described    in    polite    society. 

Dancing  is  not  only  worldly,  but  in  many  of  its 

forms  it  is  desperately  wicked.     Its  associations 

are  malodorous.     There  may  be  pleasure  in  the 

physical  response  to  music ;  shall  I  yield  to  it, 

and  thus  associate  myself  with  a  bad  institution  ? 

The   theatre   as    an   institution    is    also   bad. 

There  are  some  moral  plays,  as  well  as   some 

moral  actors  and  actresses,  but,  so     _, 

^11.  The  Theatre 

far  as  I  can  find,  there  is  not  a 

moral  theatre  in  the  world.  Edwin  Booth  de- 
termined to  establish  a  moral  theatre,  before 
whose  footlights  there  should  not  be  a  display 
of  spectacular  obscenity.  The  result  was  that 
Booth's  theatre  failed  and  paid  five  cents  on  the 
dollar.  Henry  Irving  determined  that  the  Ly- 
ceum theatre  should  be  moral,  but  the  manage- 
ment had  to  change  its  quality  to  keep  from 
bankruptcy.  Mary  Anderson  left  the  stage,  and 
declared  that  on  moral  grounds  she  did  not 
wish  her  children  to  attend  the  theatre.  Mc- 
Cready  would  not  allow  his  children  to  go  to  the 
theatre.  Edwin  Forrest,  after  hearing  Dr. 
Brantly  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  preach  a  sermon  de- 
nouncing the  theatre  for  its  immorality,  lingered 
after  the  service  long  enough  to  take  the  preach- 


78  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

er  by  the  hand  and  say  to  him,  "  Sir,  what  you 
have  said  to-night  is  true,  only  you  have  not 
painted  the  picture  as  dark  as  it  is." 

There  is  a  difference  between  pleasure  in  the 
midst  of  business,  and  making  a  business  of 
A  Living  pleasure.      The     pleasure-seeking 

•^^^^^  spirit  is  a  living  death,  for  "  she 

that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth  " 
(I  Tim.  5:6).  If  you  will  turn  to  Job  21.  12, 
you  will  find  some  of  the  results  of  this  pleasure- 
seeking  spirit.  "  They  take  the  timbrel  and 
harp,  and  rejoice  at  the  sound  of  the  organ. 
They  spend  their  days  in  wealth,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment go  down  to  the  grave.  Therefore  they  say 
unto  God,  Depart  from  us ;  for  we  desire  not 
the  knowledge  of  thy  ways.  What  is  the  Al- 
mighty that  we  should  serve  Him?  and  what 
profit  shall  we  have  if  we  pray  unto  Him.^  " 
When  the  pleasure-seeking  spirit  fills  a  man's 
life,  he  ceases  to  desire  God.  He  says  to  Him, 
"  Depart  from  us."  He  sees  no  profit  in  prayer 
or  in  the  service  of  the  Almighty.  Pleasure  is 
his  god,  and  he  becomes  vain  and  empty  like 
the  god  he  worships. 

The  picture  of  a  pleasure-seeking  life  which 
is  given  us  in  the  second  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes 


AMUSEMENTS  79 

Is  enough  to  startle  one  who  desires  to  be  some- 
thing or  do  something  in  the  Solomon's 
world.  Solomon  was  rich  enough  Experience 
to  have  everything  that  he  desired,  and  he  set 
himself  to  seeking  pleasure.  The  result  was 
that  he  hated  life,  and  declared  that  "  All  is 
vanity  and  striving  after  wind."  Some  one  has 
described  the  palace  of  pleasure  as  a  building 
"  which  has  a  gorgeous  street  entrance  adorned 
with  statuary  and  brilliant  with  variegated 
lights,  and  the  passerby  is  lured  in  by  strains 
of  music.  The  exit  is  a  dark,  narrow,  concealed 
rear-way  which  leads  into  the  fields  where  swine 
are  kept."  As  a  gentleman  entered  the  theatre 
several  years  ago,  the  usher  beckoned  to  him 
with  the  words,  "  This  is  the  way  to  the  pit." 
The  word  "  pit "  was  so  suggestive  that  the  man 
turned  and  left  the  theatre  in  haste.  However 
beautiful  the  entrance  to  the  pleasure-seeking 
life,  and  however  entrancing  the  music,  the  exit 
is  Into  the  swine  field,  and  near  the  swine  field  is 
the  precipice  over  which  sooner  or  later  we  fall 
into  the  pit. 

The  danger  Is  that  the  pleasure-seeking  spirit 
may  displace  the  serious  work  of  life.  In  the 
parable  of  the  sower,  the  seed  was  "  choked  by 


80  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

the  pleasures  of  this  life"  (Luke  8:14),  and 
A  Danger  when  one  makes  up  his  mind  that 

Signal  ^}jg  gj^(j  Qf  ijf g  jg  simply  to  have  a 

good  time,  duty  is  neglected,  sacred  obligations 
are  ignored,  business  lags,  the  prospects  of  life 
wither,  and  the  end  is  despair.  Here  is  a  good 
place  to  hold  the  red  flag  of  danger.  When 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  in  this  country,  he 
happened  to  be  in  a  small  village  when  a  circus 
was  there.  He  could  not  obtain  dinner  or  any 
sort  of  service.  The  people  of  the  hotel  informed 
him  that  no  one  would  work  that  day,  for  every- 
body was  going  to  the  show.  Such  a  holiday 
once  in  a  while  might  produce  little  harm,  but 
suppose  that  village  should  decide  to  quit  work 
and  attend  the  show  every  day ;  the  result  would 
be  stagnation  and  death.  Just  so  with  the  life 
of  a  man  who  allows  pleasure  to  displace  busi- 
ness, who  lets  fun  and  frolic  swallow  up  the 
serious  duties  of  life.  The  Romans  became  so 
greedy  for  amusement  that  they  demanded  great 
outlay  in  purchasing  wild  animals  and  gladiators 
for  their  enjoyment  in  the  arena.  This  pleasure- 
seeking  spirit  so  enervated  the  people  of  Rome 
that  they  became  an  easy  prey  to  the  serious 
Northmen  who  came  down  upon  them. 


AMUSEMENTS  81 

As  with  the  nation,  so  with  the  individual. 
Pleasure-seeking  weakens  character  and  makes  it 
easy  for  us  to  be  captured  and  Inglorious 

destroyed  by  evil  habits.     I  have  Retreat 

read  of  some  cavalry-men  who,  during  five  or  six 
years  of  rest,  taught  their  horses  to  dance  to 
the  music  of  the  band.  It  was  great  sport,  but, 
w^hen  they  were  riding  into  battle  and  the  band 
began  to  play,  hoping  to  inspirit  the  soldiers, 
the  horses  stopped  in  the  charge  and  began  to 
dance.  The  result  was  the  enemy  swept  down 
upon  them  and  conquered  them.  Many  a  man 
has  lost  the  battle  of  life  for  the  same  reason. 
He  is  so  possessed  by  the  pleasure-seeking  spirit 
that,  when  he  ought  to  be  serious  and  dutiful,  he 
is  dancing,  or  gambling,  or  in  some  other  way 
frittering  away  his  time. 

After  Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  killed  the 
Duke  D'Enghien,  the  indignation  of  the  French 
people  was  so  intense  that  there  was  danger  of  a 
revolution.  The  wily  Emperor  quieted  their 
consciences  by  producing  for  them  the  most  mag- 
nificent ballet  that  Paris  had  ever  seen.  They 
rushed  to  the  theatre  and  forgot  their  grievances. 
It  is  hard  for  conscience  to  assert  itself  when  the 
pleasure-seeking  spirit  is  master. 


82  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

Everything  that  any  one  ought  to  enjoy,  the 
Christian  may  enjoy.  What  is  sinful  or  hurtful 
The  Better  ^^  body,  mind,  or  soul,  should  not 
^^y  be  indulged  in  by  any  one,  and 

such  indulgence  displaces  a  purer  enjoyment. 
If  the  young  Christian  will  take  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  umpire  of  his  life,  submitting  to  Him  his 
pleasures  as  well  as  his  duties,  his  life  will  be 
full  of  light,  and  the  shadows  that  come  will 
only  refresh.  Jesus  said,  "  I  am  the  light  of 
the  world.  He  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk 
in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life." 
And  this  light  never  becomes  darkness.  It 
grows  "  brighter  and  brighter  till  the  perfect 
day." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN 

Napoleon  said,  "  Imagination  rules  the  world." 
Certainly  there  can  be  no  great  achievement 
where  there  is  no  ability  to  conceive  a  great  ideal. 
If  our  day-dreams  do  not  make  us  content  sim- 
ply with  reverie,  they  will  stir  us  to  heroic 
action.  Castles  in  the  air  may  become  solid 
structures. 

In  Col.  1 :  9-13  we  have  a  picture  of  the  ideal 
Christian  and  every  young  Christian  will  be 
profited  by  a  careful  study  of  his  features: 
"  For  this  cause  we  also,  since  the  day  we  heard 
it,  do  not  cease  to  pray  for  you,  and  to  desire 
that  ye  might  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
His  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understand- 
ing ;  that  ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto 
all  pleasing,  being  fruitful  in  every  good  work, 
and  increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  God; 
strengthened  with  all  might  according  to  His 
glorious  power,  unto  all  patience  and  long-suf- 

8S 


84  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

fering  with  joy  fulness;  giving  thanks  unto  the 
Father,  which  hath  made  us  meet  to  be  partakers 
of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light;  who 
hath  delivered  us  from  the  power  of  darkness 
and  hath  translated  us  into  the  kingdom  of  His 
dear  Son." 

The  ideal  Christian  is  "  filled  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  His  will  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  un- 
derstanding." It  is  not  the  knowl- 
edge of  astronomy,  botany,  phi- 
losophy or  geology  that  develops  Christian  char- 
acter, though  these  are  important  in  their  places. 
A  man  who  knows  all  science  and  history  may 
still  be  a  bad  man.  But  if  he  is  filled  with  a 
knowledge  of  God's  will,  such  fulness  will  make 
him  wise  and  spiritual.  We  learn  God's  will 
from  the  Bible,  and  hence  the  importance  of  per- 
sistent Bible  study.  A  Christian  can  afford  to 
miss  breakfast,  dinner,  or  supper  rather  than  to 
neglect  his  Bible.  Starving  the  body  is  not  so 
fatal  as  starving  the  soul.  Let  not  the  news- 
paper or  the  magazine,  however  attractive,  push 
aside  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  business,  how- 
ever prosperous,  that  causes  the  Christian  to 
neglect  his  Bible  study  impoverishes  more  than 
it  enriches. 


THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN  85 

"  That  ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  in 
all  pleasing."  Nothing  can  please  Christ  more 
than  seeing  His  people  in  their  ^  Worthy 
daily  lives  maintaining  a  standard  Walk 

worthy  of  Him.  This  does  not  mean  that  we 
are  to  be  worthy  Christians  only  in  crises  and 
emergencies.  WalJiing  is  the  daily  hum-drum  of 
life.  We  should  "  run  with  patience  the  race 
that  is  set  before  us,"  and  strive  to  be  the  first 
to  reach  the  goal,  so  as  to  receive  the  victor's 
crown.  We  may  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles, 
but  such  running  and  flying  are  not  the  tests  of 
character  that  every-day  drudgery  is.  The 
man  who  is  faithful  in  the  common  places  is 
sure  to  be  faithful  in  the  crises.  "  He  that  is 
faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also 
in  much." 

A  man  in  Chicago  heard  a  rescue  mission 
worker  make  an  earnest  address,  urging  upon 
his  hearers  to  become  Christians.  The  man,  who 
had  been  a  detective  in  former  years,  made  up 
his  mind  that  he  would  shadow  the  speaker  for 
twenty-four  hours,  in  order  that  he  might  decide 
whether  or  not  he  was  really  what  he  claimed  to 
be.  On  the  following  night  he  returned  to  the 
mission  and  said,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  become  a 


86  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

Christian.  I  heard  our  brother  make  his  earnest 
plea  last  night,  and  I  determined  to  watch  him 
for  twenty-four  hours.  I  believe  he  is  sincere, 
and  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me."  How  many  of 
us  could  stand  the  detective's  shadowing  ?  Would 
he  find  us  going  to  places  and  doing  things  un- 
worthy of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  If  so,  you 
may  be  certain  that  he  would  not  become  a 
Christian  upon  our  testimony. 

To  walk  worthy  of  Christ  is  the  highest  pos- 
sible standard,  and  the  motive  to  please  Him  in 
all  things  will  make  the  Christian  consecrated 
and  self-sacrificing.  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  of  Lon- 
don, tells  of  a  man  whose  income  is  $10,000  a 
year.  He  lives  on  $1,000  and  gives  the  remain- 
ing $9,000  to  foreign  missions.  He  tells  of  an- 
other whose  income  is  $10,000 ;  he  lives  on  $1,250 
a  year  and  gives  away  the  remainder.  Dr. 
Meyer  knows  of  a  governess  who  earns  $500  a 
year,  and  gives  away  $250 ;  he  speaks  of  another 
man  with  a  comfortable  competence,  who  remains 
in  business  and  gives  all  his  profits  to  the  Lord. 
Sarah  Hosmer,  working  in  a  factory  and  living 
in  a  garret,  gave  $50  a  year  for  the  spread  of 
the  gospel.  Are  these  people  fanatics,  or  have 
they  not  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  vocation  which 


THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN  87 

is  worthy  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  gave  Himself 

on  the  cross  for  them? 

"  Fruitful  in  every  good  work."     A  life  that 

is  full  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  cannot  fail 

to  bear  good  fruit,  and  there  is 

nothing  artificial  about  it.     It  is       ^^"^^^^l^^ss 

not  fruit  hung  upon  the  branches,  but  growing 

out  of  them.  I  saw  at  an  "  Exposition  "  apples, 
peaches,  grapes,  and  oranges  made  of  papier 
mache,  and  they  looked  just  like  fruit.  But 
there  was  no  odor  and  no  lusciousness.  They 
simply  appeared  to  be  fruit.  There  is  so-called 
Christian  fruit  like  the  papier  mache  not  pro- 
duced by  internal  life.  It  is  not  grown,  but  is 
put  on.  In  Galatians  5 :  22  is  described  a  cluster 
of  fruit  produced  by  the  Christ  life  within  us : 
"  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace, 
longsuffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meek- 
ness, temperance."  It  is  the  business  of  every 
Christian  to  grow  fruit  of  this  kind. 

"  Fruitful  in  every  good  work  "  means  much 
fruit  rather  than  great  fruit.  The  world  is  fed, 
not  by  the  rare  specimens  which  we  see  at  the 
"  Fair,"  but  by  the  little  grapes  and  the  little 
grains  of  wheat  and  corn.  "  Herein  is  my 
Father  glorified  that  ye  bear  much  fruit."     We 


88  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

may  be  too  ambitious  to  bear  big  fruit.  "  Do 
good  unto  all  men."  Let  no  opportunity  pass, 
and  it  may  be  in  eternity  you  will  find  that  the 
little  deeds  were  the  great  deeds  in  their  results. 

On  the  national  arms  of  Scotland  is  the  en- 
graving of  a  thistle,  and  it  means  that  one  little 
thistle  was  the  salvation  of  the  nation.  During 
the  invasion  of  Scotland  by  the  Danes  the  enemy 
were  advancing  in  the  dark,  when  one  of  them, 
pricking  his  bare  foot  by  a  sharp  thistle,  cried 
out  with  pain.  The  cry  was  heard  by  a  sentry 
who  sounded  the  alarm,  and  the  Scottish  soldiers, 
roused  by  the  cry,  gained  the  battle.  If  I  can 
only  be  a  little  thistle,  pricking  the  foot  of  evil, 
I  may  bear  fruit  to  the  glory  of  God. 

Julian  Legrand,  the  great  Paris  merchant, 
relates  that  the  firm  to  which  he  belonged  was  in 
financial  straits.  They  decided  in  the  morning 
that  it  would  take  $100,000  to  tide  them  over. 
Legrand  went  out  and  sought  a  loan  among  his 
friends,  but  the  times  were  so  stringent  that  no 
one  would  lend  him  a  dollar.  He  returned  to 
his  office  dejected  and  despairing.  While  sitting 
there  in  a  gloomy  state  of  mind,  there  was  a  tap 
at  the  door.  The  man  who  entered  came  up  to 
the  desk  and  said, 


THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN  89 

"  I  hear,  Mr.  Legrand,  that  you  are  in  need 
of  money." 

"  Yes,"  rephed  the  merchant,  "  we  certainly 
are." 

"  How  much  do  you  need.'' "  he  asked. 

"  Not  less  than  $100,000." 

"  Draw  me  your  note,"  continued  the  stranger, 
"  for  that  amount  without  interest  for  one  year, 
and  I  will  give  you  my  check  for  it." 

Legrand  looked  at  the  man  in  astonishment, 
conscious  that  he  had  seen  him  before,  but  not 
able  to  identify  him. 

"  But  pray,  why  have  you  come  to  our  re- 
Uef.?" 

"  When  I  was  a  small  boy,"  said  the  stranger, 
"  attending  the  public  school,  you  came  as  one 
of  the  commissioners  on  examination  day.  I  was 
poor,  shabbily  dressed,  and  thought  that  you 
would,  of  course,  pay  attention  to  the  rich  men's 
children,  but  after  the  exercises  you  put  your 
hand  on  my  head,  spoke  some  kind  words,  told 
me  to  persevere,  that  I  could  do  better  if  I  would 
try,  and  assured  me  that  the  way  to  honor  was 
open  to  all  alike ;  all  I  had  to  do  was  to  be  reso- 
lute and  push  on.  That,  sir,  was  the  turning 
point  in  my  life.     From  that  hour  my  soul  has 


90  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

aspired,  and  I  have  never  reached  a  goal  with- 
out blessing  you  in  my  heart.  I  have  prospered 
and  am  wealthy ;  I  now  offer  you  but  a  poor 
return  for  the  soul-wealth  you  gave  me  in  that 
by-gone  time." 

Little  did  Mr.  Legrand  suppose  when  he  was 
speaking  to  the  poor  boy  in  the  school  that  he 
would  reap  such  a  fruitage  from  that  little  deed. 
And  doubtless  we  shall  meet  many  such  surprises 
in  heaven.  What  we  thought  were  the  great 
occasions  on  earth  in  God's  estimation  may  have 
been  small  and  insignificant ;  what  we  thought 
was  the  trivial  may  have  been  in  His  sight  the 
most  important. 

"  Increase  in  the  knowledge  of  God."     This 

means  growing  by  means  of  the  knowledge  of 

^        ,  God.     It  is  the  knowlede^e  of  God 

Growth  ,  ,  ^M- 

that     makes     us     grow.     Many 

Christians  are  dwarfs  because  they  know  so  little 

of  God.     To  think  God's  thoughts  is  to  grow 

intellectually,  and  to  know  and  love  God's  will 

is  to  grow  spiritually.     An  old  infant  is  a  sad 

sight.     For  a  child  to  be  deprived  of  its  growth 

is  a  great  calamity.     I  saw  such  a  pitiful  object 

in  the  hospital.     From  four  years  of  age  there 

had  been  no  growth  for  thirty -five  years.     Chris- 


THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN  91 

tians  many  years  old  may  be  infants  in  size, 
simply  because  they  have  not  learned  more  of 

God. 

"  Strengthened  with  all  might  according  to 
His    glorious   power   unto   all   patience."      The 
power  is  not  inherent.     It  comes 
from  God,  and  the  measure  of  it 
is  not  our  ability,  but  His  might ;  and  the  need  of 
it  is  for  patience.     We  are  apt  to  think  that  we 
need  power   only   for  work,  but  there  may  be 
more  need  of  power  to  endure.     A  poor  mother 
whose  drunken  son  was  before  a  court  in  New 
York  charged  with  crime  fell  dead  in  the  witness 
box,  when  she  was  asked  to  testify  against  her 
son.     The  strain  was  more  than  her  nerves  could 
stand.     What  she  needed  was  the  power  of  God 
in  her  moments  of  greatest  weakness.     A  daugh- 
ter, who  w^ent  from  her  place  of  business  in  New 
York  to  a  New  Jersey  town,  found  her  mother 
intoxicated,  and  in  a  fit  of  despair  committed 
suicide.     The  poor  girl  had  power  to  work,  but 
not  power  to  endure  so  great  a  shock.     If  she 
had  called  upon  Christ,  He  would  have  strength- 
ened her  for  even  that  ordeal. 

Barney  Barnato,  the  millionaire  of  North  Af- 
rica, committed  suicide  by  throwing  himself  into 


92   YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PROBLEMS 

the  sea.  He  saw  that  his  great  fortune  was  dissi- 
pated, and  he  could  not  bear  the  thought  of 
becoming  again  a  poor  man.  The  sense  of  fail- 
ure broke  his  heart.  I  wish  I  could  have  stood 
beside  him  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel,  beneath  the 
clear  sky,  and  whispered  to  him  of  God  in 
Christ  who  could  give  him  strength  to  endure, 
not  with  melancholy  and  moroseness,  but  with 
joy  fulness.  Under  the  heaviest  burdens  we  may 
sing.  In  the  darkest  night  we  may  shout  His 
praise.  When  Susannah  Wesley  was  dying,  she 
said  to  her  weeping  children  at  the  bedside, 
"  When  I  am  gone,  sing  to  God  a  hymn  of 
praise,"  and  when  her  spirit  departed,  the  chil- 
dren with  trembling  voices  and  weeping  eyes 
sang  their  song  of  praise  for  a  mother  now  glori- 
fied with  Christ.  The  ideal  Christian  is  the  per- 
son who  can  be  sorrowful  and  yet  rejoice,  cast 
down  and  yet  lifted  up,  patient  and  longsuffering 
with  joy. 

"  Giving   thanks    to   the   Father  which   hath 
made  us  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance 

_      .     ,  of  the  saints  of  li^ht."    We  thank 

Gratitude  •       ,       ^         ,       .  i 

God  not  simply  for  the  inher- 
itance which  is  "  incorruptible,  undefiled  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,"  but  for  the  fitness  to  enjoy  it. 


THE  IDEAL  CHRISTIAN  93 

Going  to  heaven  unfit  for  the  place  would  be  a 
calamity.  Christ  is  preparing  a  place  for  us 
while  the  Holy  Spirit  is  preparing  us  for  the 
place.  Thanks  be  to  God  for  heaven!  Thanks 
be  to  God  still  more  for  the  preparation  of  heart 
which  makes  heaven  everywhere ! 

"  Who  hath  delivered  us  from  the  power  of 
darkness  and  hath  translated  us  into  the  king- 
dom of  His  dear  Son."  Death 
to  a  Christian  is  a  translation,  but 
we  have  not  to  wait  until  we  die  to  be  translated 
from  one  kingdom  to  another.  We  leave  "  the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air  "  for  the  kingdom 
of  His  dear  Son.  The  chains  of  darkness  which 
bind  us  have  been  broken  and  we  walk  in  the 
light.  The  emigrant  comes  from  Russia  to 
America  and  becomes  a  citizen  by  renouncing 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Czar  of  Russia,  and  ac- 
knowledging his  allegiance  to  the  Constitution 
of  this  country.  So  we  renounce  the  rule  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  Devil,  when  we  ac- 
knowledge the  allegiance  of  Christ.  The  Lamb 
who  died  to  redeem  us  is  the  King  who  lives  to 
rule  us.  If  the  young  Christian  will  let  Christ 
reign  in  him,  He  will  always  give  deliverance 
and  his  life  will  be  ideal. 


m 


HUlUUltljlt 

•  ',Zl^°'^  .  f,''.^.°.'.?5'?.''J  .Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01005  2308 


